Padres 5 - 4 Twins
Final/10
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Padres beat Twins on Smith's HR in 10th

Aug 7, 2014 - 7:09 AM Minneapolis, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Seth Smith's solo homer in the 10th inning lifted the San Diego Padres to a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon, their first win in the series in nine years.

Smith's leadoff blast to right field off Anthony Swarzak (2-1) came after the Padres tied the score in the top of the ninth on Everth Cabrera's sacrifice fly.

"You never know when you get up there, but today I was seeing (the ball) pretty good," Smith said.

San Diego's Alexi Amarista then made game-saving over-the-shoulder catch in center field on Eduardo Escobar's blast in the bottom of the ninth with two runners on base.

The Padres snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Twins, which included a 3-1 setback on Tuesday in the opener of the two-game series. It was their first win over Minnesota since June 19, 2005.

Trevor Plouffe hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs for the Twins, who had a three-game winning streak snapped.

Twins right-hander Kevin Correia was in line for his first win in four starts before the Padres tied the score in the ninth. Correia gave up three runs on five hits and a walk in six innings.

Rookie Odrisamer Despaigne worked 5 2/3 innings for the Padres, allowing four runs on eight hits and three walks. Despaigne is winless in his last three starts with 12 earned runs given up in 15 innings

Twins closer Glen Perkins blew the 4-3 lead when Yonder Alonso led off with a double and eventually scored on Cabrera's sliced line drive to right fielder Oswaldo Arcia, who slid to make the catch but sailed a throw past home plate.

"Closers make it interesting. They always do," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "Glen is as good as they are. He's a good one. Today he left a couple pitches up. We shouldn't have been in that situation. We should have scored a lot more runs."

In the bottom of the ninth, the Twins had runners at first and second with two outs when Escobar drove a fastball from Kevin Quackenbush (2-2) to deep center. Amarista made a long run from shallow center and came down with the ball near the warning track.

In the bottom of the 10th, Joaquin Benoit gave up a leadoff pinch-hit single to Kurt Suzuki, who moved up on Jordan Schafer's bunt. Benoit walked Brian Dozier with two outs but Cabrera caught Eduardo Nunez's humpback liner in shallow left-center field to end the game and earn Benoit his fourth save.

The Padres tied the score at 3-3 with two runs in the sixth inning, the first one scoring on Smith's one-hop double off the wall in right-center. Yangervis Solarte then came home on Tommy Medica's groundout.

The Twins went back on top in the bottom of the inning after Danny Santana was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on Plouffe's single to make it 4-3.

Earlier, Dozier hit a one-out single and Plouffe followed with a homer to left field, his eighth of the season, to give the Twins a 2-0 lead in the first.

Jedd Gyorko doubled into the right-field corner to score Medica from first base to get San Diego on the board in the fourth inning. The Twins got the run back in the fifth when Escobar hit an RBI single off the glove of the third baseman Solarte and into left field to make it 3-1.

Game Notes

Smith hit his 12th homer of the season ... It was Perkins' fourth blown save in 32 opportunities this season ... The Twins successfully challenged a call in the second inning after Santana was hit by a pitch in the knee. Home plate umpire Marvin Hudson had called the pitch a ball. The Padres escaped a bases- loaded jam in the inning ... It was a two-game home respite for the Twins, who are back on the road for seven games in a row starting Thursday in Oakland ... The Padres remain on the road for a three-game series in Pittsburgh starting Friday.






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