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Peavy brilliant as Padres blank Cardinals

May 12, 2007 - 6:30 AM SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- All the San Diego Padres needed to snap their skid was ace Jake Peavy on the mound.

Peavy tossed seven great innings and Russell Branyan belted two homers as the Padres snapped a three-game losing streak with a 7-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

Khalil Greene had two hits and two RBI for San Diego, which had not lost four straight contests since August 14-17. During their skid, the Padres managed just seven runs and they matched that mark Friday - but it was more than enough.

"We needed a good start from our starter, and I'm just glad I was able to give it to us," Peavy said. "This is a good team win, and we needed it coming off some tough losses and three in a row. We needed to have it. Being the team we want to be, we can't lose four in a row."

After struggling for most of last season, Peavy (5-1) has returned to form. On his way to keeping San Diego from dropping its fourth contest in a row, Peavy secured his fifth win - a mark he did not reach last season until his 20th start.

"I thought we had a lot of really good aggressive swings, but (Peavy) threw the ball really well on both sides of the plate with a lot of movement," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "What did we have, three hits? You have to give the pitcher credit."

The 25-year-old righthander, who struck out 10 on Friday, has four straight double-digit strikeout games, recording 46 in his last 28 innings. He allowed just three hits in seven frames, walking only two.

"I had a good fastball today and kept pretty good command of it on the outer half," Peavy said. "I just mixed the slider in when need be, but when you've got command of your fastball, that's the best pitch in baseball. Not necessarily to strike guys out, but just throwing it where you want to get guys out."

Entering the game tied with Baltimore's Erik Bedard for the most punchouts in the majors, Peavy continued to baffle hitters and now has allowed one run or less in six of his eight starts this campaign.

"More of the same," Padres manager Bud Black said of Peavy's performance. "Even though he fell behind in some counts, he had the ability to get back in the count and record some outs. He used the fastball to record strikeouts, where in previous games it might have been the slider or breaking ball. I liked that he used the fastball extremely well."

Peavy came out after 106 pitches and was relieved by Kevin Cameron, who pitched two clean innings - walking two and striking out one - to finish the game.

Branyan gave the ace righthander all the run support he needed. Adrian Gonzalez led off the second inning with a single, and after Greene struck out, Branyan blasted a two-run shot off Cardinals starter Kip Wells (1-7) to start the scoring.

"Tonight, I really felt good," Branyan said. "I saw the ball well and was able to square up a couple of balls. Most importantly, Jake came out and pitched solid again. It's been unbelievable watching him pitch this year, and when he's throwing up zeroes, you get him a couple of runs, you've got a good chance to win some ballgames."

The slugging third baseman is 12-for-28 with five homers off Wells in his career. But the poor showing is nothing new for Wells, who allowed four runs and seven hits in six frames - striking out eight and walking three - for his sixth loss in a row.

"I made some mistakes tonight," Well said. "I gave up the two home runs. The one Greene hit was a poor pitch. By the same token, at this point where I'm at, I'm just trying to take positives out of what I did well. I'm trying not to bury myself as far as not doing better and go out there with the intent to shut them out."

"Kip does some really good things, and then he, most of the time he gets hurt, he's hanging a breaking ball over the middle of the plate," La Russa said. "That's where most of the damage came. He shows you what he's capable of doing, but he has got to improve his consistency."

Branyan belted his second homer of the game in the seventh off Brian Falkenborg to cap a three-run frame and make it 7-0.

Scott Rolen, Yadier Molina and Wells each had a hit for the Cardinals, who have gone 4-3 after a season-high five-game losing streak.