Pomeranz, Padres overcome 3 Nats homers to win 6-3
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Drew Pomeranz made three obvious mistakes for the San Diego Padres on Sunday. Luckily for him, that's where the damage ended.
Pomeranz allowed three solo homers but not much else, Adam Rosales drove in two runs and San Diego beat the Washington Nationals 6-3 on Sunday.
"I obviously made three main mistakes and they capitalized on them," Pomeranz said.
The left-handed Pomeranz (6-7) had lost four of his previous five decisions. He worked six innings, striking out seven and walking one. He allowed two homers to Michael Taylor and another to Danny Espinosa, and his ERA rose to 3.00.
"They're a good hitting team," Pomeranz said. "I felt like I was pretty efficient, pitched pretty well. I feel like I was in good counts for the most part. I guess that I made those three mistakes, but other than that I was pretty much right where I wanted to be with everything.
"I could have made a few more pitches here and there obviously, but you know, I'm happy with it."
So was Padres manager Andy Green.
"Drew was solid," he said. "He threw the ball well."
Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth for his 14th save in as many chances. He ran his scoreless innings streak to start the season to 25 1/3 innings, the second-longest streak by a Padre to begin the year since Randy Jones went 26 innings in 1975.
"It's pretty unbelievable," Pomeranz said. "We just want to rush through the eighth inning with a lead and just get to him out there."
Taylor went 4 for 4 and was a triple shy of the cycle.
Gio Gonzalez (3-6) left after 5 1/3 innings and allowed with six runs (five earned), eight hits and four walks. He had three strikeouts and lost his fifth straight decision.
"It's very, very frustrating," Gonzalez said. "All you can do is keep pushing forward. But I had pitches that I left up just enough where they got hits."
Added manager Dusty Baker: "It just seems like he can't stay out of one (bad) inning."
Melvin Upton Jr. had two hits and scored twice for the Padres.
With the Nats trailing 5-3, Daniel Murphy nearly tied it in the sixth but was denied by Travis Jankowski. The Padres' center fielder, who had replaced Jon Jay after he suffered a right forearm contusion in the fourth, raced to the fence and made a leaping catch with a man on.
"We hit a couple of good balls today," Baker said. "And I thought Murphy had that one."
"They outplayed us the last two days and I'm not real happy about it," Baker added.
Taylor smoked Pomeranz's first pitch for a home run. It was the fourth time Washington had a leadoff homer this season, three by Taylor.
"I just made a stupid pitch, kind of pulled it back and cut it back over the plate," Pomeranz said.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: 2B Cory Spangenberg (quad) will begin to run on the treadmill later this week after bunting during an abbreviated batting practice on Sunday. There's still no timetable for his return.
UP NEXT:
Nationals: RHP Stephen Strasburg (10-0) faces Dodger ace Clayton Kershaw (10-1) at Los Angeles on Monday in one of the premiere pitching matchups of the season. The pairing pits two of the top four pitchers in winning percentage against each other.
Padres: RHP Luis Perdomo (2-2) starts against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday as the team starts a six-game road trip. Perdomo is coming off a career-high, six-inning stint in Wednesday's win over the Marlins.
