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Young, Kouzmanoff lead Padres in opener vs. Dodgers

Jun 30, 2007 - 7:14 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Chris Young continued his outstanding pitching and rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff sparked a big fourth inning with a home run as the San Diego Padres posted a 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

With the victory, San Diego (45-33) moved a full game ahead of Los Angeles (45-35) and remained one-half game ahead of Arizona (46-35) for first place in the National League West.

"It's good to be in first, but I'd rather be in first on September 30th than anything else," Young said.

Young (8-3) improved to 6-1 with a 1.29 ERA in his last 11 starts despite yielding five steals and a balk. The 6-10 righthander was charged with two runs and seven hits, but he walked just one and struck out nine to win for the first time in seven all-time starts against the Dodgers despite a 2.98 ERA.

"I did a good job minimizing damage and I gave us a shot to win the game," Young said. "Just executed my pitches and kept the ball down but they did hit some pitches that I thought were good."

Young was touched for solo runs in the first and third frames. Juan Pierre singled with one out in the first, stole second and third and scored on a groundout by Jeff Kent.

"I know they have a tough team and never quit, but it was a good win for the team and for me," Young said.

After San Diego tied it in the second on a run-scoring triple by Jose Cruz Jr., Rafael Furcal singled in the third, swiped second and raced home on a single to center by Pierre.

However Young struck out Russell Martin and retired Kent on a popout with Pierre at third to escape.

"Chris had a good breaking ball tonight and kept us off-balance," Martin said. "We battled until the last inning but we just couldn't get anything going against Chris." Mike Cameron opened the decisive frame against Dodgers starter Hong Chi Kuo (1-4) with a double and scored on first baseman James Loney's throwing error after a base hit up the middle by Michael Barrett. Khalil Greene followed with a single, setting the stage for Kouzmanoff, who blasted a second-pitch offering from Kuo to right field for his seventh homer of the season and a 5-2 edge.

"I got a two seam fastball and made good contact," Kouzmanoff said. "That was a big inning for us because we gave Chris plenty of support to work with."

Batting just .194 in 144 at-bats vs. righthanders, Kouzmanoff's third blast against a lefthander lifted his average to .283 (17-for-60) against southpaws.

"We knew coming in here that we had to bring our A game and just play hard," Kouzmanoff said. "I'm just happy that I helped out with the bat tonight."

Later in the frame, Marcus Giles singled home a run against reliever Rudy Seanez and and Adrian Gonzalez increased the bulge to 7-2 with a ground ball.

The 25-year-old Kuo was tagged for seven runs and six hits in 3 1/3 frames and has been tagged for 18 runs over his last three starts covering 10 1/3 innings.

"He (Kuo) just didn't have his best stuff tonight," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "We hope he can turn it around in the next start or two."

The Dodgers rallied for three runs in the eighth, getting RBI singles by Nomar Garciaparra and Loney before Scott Linebrink retired Wilson Betemit with a runner on to end the eighth.

"Dodgers battled and didn't let up at all," Padres manager Bud Black said.

San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman yielded a run in the ninth but retired Luis Gonzalez with the tying run at second for his 22nd save and the 504th of his career.

"Our pen struggled a bit tonight, but that's going to happen in a long season," Young said. "They did what they had to do and kept them off the board long enough to get us a win."

Pierre had three hits and three steals and Garciaparra added three hits for the Dodgers, who are beginning a 10-game homestand after completing a 6-4 road trip.