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Wells beats Maddux as Cards scratch out rare win

Aug 9, 2007 - 5:30 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- In a series that has been defined by the big inning, Kip Wells made a moderate frame stand up.

Wells made two first-inning runs stand up, outdueling a game Greg Maddux, as the St. Louis Cardinals posted a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.

Monday's series opener saw the Cardinals push across 10 runs in the fifth and the Padres answered with a three-run ninth on Tuesday - both in winning efforts - so it seemed unlikely that a two-run first would be enough for a pitcher who was trying to avoid becoming the first National League hurler to lose 14 games.

Wells (5-13) permitted just one unearned run and six hits with four strikeouts over seven innings. The outing marked just the second time in his 25 appearances this season the righthander did not walk a batter.

"That's the way (Wells) has been pitching," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "He's been getting better all the time. He matched up against Maddux and that was clutch. He was very good."

"I felt like I had my work cut out for me with Maddux - as good as he is," said Wells, who improved to 5-2 in his career against San Diego. "(I had) to concentrate pitch-to-pitch; it's the way people overcome adversity and the way people pitch successfully at this level, simplify it down to one task at a time."

Two relievers kept the Padres off the board over the eighth before closer Jason Isringhausen worked around two walks in the ninth for his 22nd save in 24 opportunities, giving the Cardinals only their second win in their last eight games.

St. Louis answered San Diego's lone tally in the top of the first with their only two in the bottom off of Maddux (7-9). David Eckstein sparked a string of four consecutive hits with a leadoff single and scored on Juan Encarnacion's double that bounced off the top of the wall in deep left-center to tie the game at 1-1.

Albert Pujols followed with an RBI single to score the second run for the Cardinals, who won for just the second time in 37 games in which they score fewer than three runs.

"Guys like Maddux, you need to get to early, before they get comfortable and find their spot out there," Pujols said. "He (likes keeping) the ball down, finding his spots and hitting the corners. He's one of the best."

After the fourth batter of the inning, Jim Edmonds, singled, it was vintage Maddux thereafter, as the 41-year old was brilliant, retiring 17 of the next 19 Cardinals without giving up a hit. The future Hall-of-Famer used only 72 pitches in his six innings, permitting two runs and four hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

"Obviously, he pitched well enough to win," Padres manager Bud Black said. "The first four guys get hits and he doesn't allow another hit the rest of the way - pretty impressive."

"I think my gameplan was fine, I just didn't execute it very well," Maddux said. "I put us in a hole and we never caught up. You can't win a game in the first couple innings but you can sure lose it. I did that tonight."

Despite the stellar performance, the four-time National League Cy Young Award winner has not won since June 27 - a span of eight starts - and remains stuck at 340 wins, 10th on the all-time list.

Maddux took it all in stride.

"I'm pretty good about worrying about just pitching," Maddux said. "I never pitch for results anyway. You really can't control the outcome of the game, but you can control the things you do in a game. If you do them right, you give yourself chances to win.