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Padres top Cubs to even series

Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Tommy Medica went 3-for-5 with two RBI and a 
run scored to lead the San Diego Padres in an 8-3 win over the Chicago Cubs on 
Wednesday. 

Yangervis Solarte, who made his San Diego debut, provided a run-scoring triple 
among  his two hits and scored twice. Padres starter Ian Kennedy (8-9) grabbed 
the  win after  yielding three  runs on  three hits  and five  walks with  six 
strikeouts over six innings. 

Tsuyoshi  Wada (0-1) opposed Kennedy, allowing five runs on five hits and four 
walks through four-plus innings in the setback. 

Luis Valbuena cranked a three-run homer to account for Chicago's offense. 

"(Wada)  wasn't as  effective today," said Cubs manager Rick Renteria. "He was 
getting through it, but he was grinding through it." 

San  Diego raced out  of the gate to a 2-0 lead before Chicago could even take 
its  turn  at the plate.  Chris Denorfia  led off the  game with a walk before 
Solarte  tripled to  right to open the scoring. Carlos Quentin followed with a 
sacrifice fly to right that staked the visitors to a two-run advantage. 

"That  was great to see," Padres manager Bud Black said of Solarte's first at- 
bat. "He swings the bat from both sides so it was good to get him acclimated." 

Jeff  Francoeur  singled to  begin the  away fourth and  hustled home on Chris 
Nelson's  double to  right. Alexi Amarista reached first on a fielder's choice 
as  Nelson slid into third just ahead of the tag to put runners at the corners 
with  one out. Kennedy  attempted to help his cause with a safety squeeze, but 
Wada  made a timely  flip to Welington Castillo, who applied the tag on Nelson 
for  the second out of the frame. Wada worked his way out of the inning with a 
strikeout of Denorfia. 

Kennedy's first two walks of the night proved to be costly in the home fourth. 
Anthony  Rizzo  walked with one  out and Chris Coghlan  worked a free pass two 
batters  later.  Valbuena then stepped  in and blasted  his sixth homer of the 
season which tied the game at 3-3. 

Wada  followed Kennedy's  erratic inning  with one  of his  own in  the fifth, 
walking  Solarte  and Quentin to begin  the frame. Medica followed with a deep 
drive  to  the left-center  gap that  got stuck  in the  ivy for a ground-rule 
double, allowing Solarte to cross home. 

Brian  Schlitter,  who came  on to relieve  the Japanese southpaw, immediately 
issued  a walk to  Francoeur that loaded the bases. Schlitter made a nice play 
on  Nelson's dribbler up  the third-base line to get the force at home for the 
first  out  of the inning, but  he walked Rene  Rivera to push in another run. 
Amarista  had the opportunity to open the game up, however, he grounded into a 
6-4-3 double play. 

Kennedy  allowed a leadoff double to Castillo in the home fifth before walking 
the bases loaded with one out. The right-hander got a huge strikeout of Rizzo, 
the  NL  home run leader, and  induced an inning-ending groundout from Starlin 
Castro to maintain San Diego's two-run cushion. 

Chicago  put  a pair of runners  on in the seventh, however, Kevin Quackenbush 
struck out Castro to end the threat. 

Amarista  walked  to lead off the  eighth, moved to  second on a wild pitch by 
Justin Grimm and stole third before Yasmani Grandal drew a base on balls. 

Pinch-hitter  Seth Smith  poked a single to right that scored Amarista, Medica 
knocked in Grandal with a base hit and Francoeur added a sacrifice fly to help 
the Padres stretch the score to its final margin. 

                                   Game Notes 

Solarte was acquired from the New York Yankees on Tuesday in the Chase Headley 
deal  ... Wada made his second career start and first at Wrigley Field ... The 
two  pitching  staffs combined for 17  walks, with Cubs pitchers walking 11 in 
the setback. 

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