• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Padres sweep Royals

Jun 30, 2011 - 12:37 AM San Diego, CA (Sports Network) - Anthony Rizzo had a two-run single and Tim Stauffer tossed seven innings of one-run ball to lift San Diego over Kansas City, 4-1, to complete a three-game sweep.

The series sweep was the first of the year for the Padres and the first since they took three games from the Los Angeles Dodgers from September 6-8 last season.

Stauffer (4-5) allowed four hits and two walks while striking out six in the Padres' seventh win in eight games.

"I think everyone has been pitching in. The pitching has been doing a good job," Padres outfielder Ryan Ludwick said about their recent success. "Winning is much better than losing, so we're enjoying this right now."

Heath Bell worked himself out of a jam in the ninth to earn his 23rd save of the year.

Bruce Chen (4-2) took the loss, allowing four unearned runs on eight hits and a walk through six innings. He also fanned six in the Royals' 11th loss in 14 tries.

"This is a really weird funk we're in. We're playing, actually, pretty decent baseball most of the time, but we're not winning baseball games," Royals manager Ned Yost said about his team's struggles.

The Royals threatened in the ninth after back-to-back singles to start the inning by Mike Moustakas and Brayan Pena. But Bell was able to get three straight fly balls, the final two on full counts, to end the game and earn his 16th consecutive save opportunity and the 57th in the last 58 attempts dating back to last year.

Kansas City struck first after Melky Cabrera doubled to left with one out in the third and came home two batters later on a Eric Hosmer liner to center field, giving the Royals a one-run advantage.

San Diego got that run back, plus more, thanks to defensive miscues by third baseman Moustakas in the bottom half of the inning. Tim Stauffer led off the inning by reaching base on a fielding error by Moustakas, and was followed by a Chris Denorfia single to put men on first and second with no outs. It looked like the Padres would leave the frame empty-handed, though, when the next two batters, Cameron Maybin and Chase Headly, hit weak pop ups, but Ludwick came through with a double down the left-field line to bring in Stauffer.

Rizzo then singled in Denorfia and Ludwick and advanced to second on Jeff Francoeur's throw to the plate as Ludwick slid home safely. Orlando Hudson came up next and, after Rizzo stole third, hit a high-bouncer to third that Moustakas charged, but he couldn't handle the short hop and the ball deflected off his glove and into foul territory, allowing Rizzo to score and giving San Diego a 4-1 lead.

Game Notes

The Padres improved to 6-0 all-time against the Royals at Petco Park, leaving it as the only active ballpark in which the Royals have not recorded a victory...San Diego ended a six-game homestand with a 5-1 record...With the loss, Chen dropped his career record to 52-52.