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Peavy's road dominance continues in Padres' win

Aug 8, 2007 - 4:49 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Josh Bard helped Jake Peavy maintain his sparkling road record.

Bard singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh and Peavy was stellar through six innings as the San Diego Padres posted a 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday.

Bard broke up a pitchers' duel between Peavy and Anthony Reyes with a one-out RBI single to right field to help the Padres get back on track after their four-game winning streak was snapped in Monday's opener.

Peavy (12-5) improved to 6-0 in road starts by limiting the Cardinals, who tied a major league record with 10 straight hits on Monday, to just three hits in six innings.

"I don't know how to explain it," said Peavy of his road record. "I'm comfortable pitching anywhere. It's just one of those things. I just think that's the way the chips have fell. I don't think there's much to it."

The starter in the National League All-Star Game, Peavy threw 66 of 104 pitches for strikes and struck out five en route to his third straight win and helped San Diego (61-51) move within 1 1/2 games of Arizona (63-50).

"Tonight wasn't a night that I really had it," Peavy said. "I was able to battle through it. I just want to be good for this team especially with (Chris Young) out. I had to pick my end up and make sure this team continues to win ball games."

"I think there's a difference between guys that start opening day and guys that are aces," Bard said. "He's really becoming that for us. When you have a losing streak or a game like yesterday and things kind of get out of hand you need a guy to stop the bleeding and he's been that for us."

One night after St. Louis 10 runs, all in the fifth inning, Peavy made sure the Cardinals came up empty.

Their best scoring chance against Peavy came in the first inning. Albert Pujols drew a two-out walk and Jim Edmonds lined a ball off the left field wall, but Rob Mackowiak played the bounce perfectly and held Pujols at third.Peavy then threw 14 pitches to get Scott Rolen to pop out to end the threat.

"You don't want to throw as many pitches as I did," Peavy said. "A fourteen pitch at-bat in this kind of heat will get you. I settled down and had some decent innings and got through it OK."

"When your going against an ace not to mention one of the best it's pretty tough," Edmonds said. "We had a chance to score some runs there and we didn't. Whenever you get those chances you have to push one across."

With San Diego holding a 1-0 lead, Peavy, who lowered his road ERA to a major league-best .088, was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning. Cla Meredith came on to throw a perfect seventh.

Heath Bell took over in the eighth and ran into trouble when he allowed a two-out walk to Pujols and an infield single to Edmonds before getting Rolen to ground out to second to end the frame.

As good as Peavy was, Reyes (1-11) was nearly as impressive. The 25-year-old, who picked up his first win on July 28, allowed just one run and seven hits in seven innings and threw 72 of 109 pitches for strikes.

However, he faltered in the seventh, allowing three straight singles to Mackowiak rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff and Bard to account for the game's first run.

"Anthony did a great job," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He deserved to be a no decision at worst. He pitches well enough to win and he gets matched up against guys we can't break through against."

San Diego, which has won six of its last nine, added three insurance runs in the ninth off closer Jason Isringhausen.

Kouzmanoff reached on an error by second baseman Aaron Miles to lead off the inning and Bard walked. After a sacrifice, Scott Hairston tripled in two runs and then scored on a wild pitch by Isringhausen.

"That was a tough clutch hit when we needed it the most to expand the lead," Padres manager Bud Black said.

"Anytime you can add a cushion on the road it makes you breathe a little easier. It's never over until the last out of the game but it makes it a little nicer."

The outburst allowed closer Trevor Hoffman to take a seat as Doug Brocail worked a perfect ninth in a non-save situation.

Edmonds had three hits for the Cardinals, who have lost six of their last seven games and stranded eight runners.

"We just couldn't break through," La Russa said. "It was a very frustrating, maddening kind of ball game."