Gordon scores on wild play in 11th, Marlins beat Padres 6-3 (Apr 22, 2017)
SAN DIEGO (AP) While Dee Gordon provided the craziest play of the game, his Miami Marlins still needed big performances from Giancarlo Stanton, Martin Prado and Dan Straily to beat the San Diego Padres 6-3 in 11 innings Saturday night.
Gordon scored on his own swinging bunt in a wild play during the 11th inning, Stanton homered twice, Prado had two defensive gems and a homer and Straily struck out a career-high 14.
''It was a good team win,'' Gordon said.
''It was a really fun night,'' Straily said. ''That baseball game had everything: strikeouts, home runs and great defense. After the last couple of days it was great to get the win going and it feels like a big momentum builder.''
The Marlins went ahead 4-2 with no outs in the 11th thanks to San Diego's sloppy defense. With Justin Bour aboard on a pinch-single, reliever Jose Torres (1-1) fielded Gordon's dribbler and threw it away, with the ball rolling all the way into the right-field corner to allow Bour to score. Hunter Renfroe had difficulty picking up the ball, allowing Gordon to sprint home.
''I was happy that Justin was going to score and then I was about to stop at third and he waved and it was like, `OK, I have to run fast again,''' Gordon said.
With Christian Yelich aboard on a fielder's choice, Stanton hit a line shot off the Western Metal Supply Co. brick warehouse in the left-field corner, his seventh, for a four-run lead.
Brad Zielger (1-0) pitched the 10th for the win. AJ Ramos relieved Junichi Tazawa with runners on first and third and no outs in the 11th and got the last three outs for his third save.
The Padres failed to capitalize on scoring chances in the ninth and 10th. With two outs and runners on the corners in the 10th, third baseman Prado made a remarkable diving catch of Erick Aybar's liner. One batter earlier, he made a nice stop of rookie Manuel Margot's grounder to get a force at second.
''I told him during a pitching change `You won us the game,''' Gordon said.
Stanton homered to left on an 84-mph fastball from Jered Weaver leading off the second inning. Stanton also hit a two-run homer in a 5-3 loss Friday night, won the Home Run Derby here on July 12 and had a big homer for the United States in a victory against the Dominican Republic last month at Petco Park that put the Americans into the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic.
Straily allowed two runs and four hits while walking none. He threw 97 pitches, 73 for strikes. He previously had struck out 11, most recently on May 25, 2016, at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
His only big mistake was allowing Austin Hedges' two-run homer to left to give the Padres a 2-1 lead in the fourth.
After the homer, Straily struck out nine of the next 11 batters.
''We've been preaching this whole season, the starter's job is to go as long as you can, as hard as you can and keep us in the ballgame,'' he said. ''Some nights that looks way different than others but after I gave up the home run I knew I couldn't allow anybody else to score because it was going to be a tight game based on how it was going.''
Straily ''was definitely good tonight,'' Padres manager Andy Green said. ''He's got a slider that's got some downward bite to it that looks a lot like his fastball. We were having trouble differentiating the two. It's one of those things, if you're having trouble picking up the spin on the baseball he becomes a very difficult pitcher to face.''
After Hedges' homer gave San Diego the lead, Prado homered to left off Weaver, his first, with one out in the sixth.
Weaver, making his home debut for the Padres, has allowed seven homers in four starts. He went six innings Saturday, allowing two runs and four hits, with three strikeouts and one walk.
HEDGES
The Padres catcher has five homers in eight games, including a three-run shot in Friday night's win. He opened the season 0 for 24.
UP NEXT
Marlins: RHP Tom Koehler (0-1, 5.40) is scheduled to make his fourth start. He is 3-0 with a 2.14 ERA against San Diego in four career appearances, including three starts.
Padres: RHP Luis Perdomo (0-0, 8.44) is scheduled to come off the disabled list and make his second start of the season. He's been sidelined with shoulder inflammation.
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