Padres escape Houston with a series split

San Diego Padres 8 – Houston Astros 6

W: Ernesto Frieri (1-1)
L: Mark Melancon (1-1)
S: Heath Bell (4)

For a change, the Padres offense picked up the slack for the starting pitcher. Clayton Richard struggled in his start giving up 6 runs in his 5 1/3 innings pitched. Buddy tried to get an extra inning out of him in the 6th, but Richard was not able to get out of the inning.

Fortunately for Clayton, the offense was able to erupt for 11 hits and 8 runs. The team just kept battling back and were finally able to drive in some runners. Will Venable came up with a huge hit to drive in 2 runs in the 4-run 8th inning.

Nick Hundley, Chase Headley, Cameron Maybin, and Jason Bartlett each had a multi-hit game and hopefully this team can start hitting. The pitching usually has been able to slow down the other team and if the offense can stay hot at the plate, then we should see more wins coming through.

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