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Peavy brilliant in return as Padres blank Dodgers

Jun 12, 2008 - 11:52 PM By Tim Powers PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Jake Peavy made a triumphant return and the San Diego Padres used a five-run first inning to trounce the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-0, on Thursday in the rubber match of the three-game series.

Peavy (5-3), who was activated from the disabled list prior to the game after being sidelined since May 20 with a strained right elbow, promptly returned to form.

The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner yielded just three hits while striking out four to run his record to an impressive 12-1 in 21 career starts against Los Angeles.

"It felt good to be back, there's no doubt," Peavy said. "Anytime you beat a team in the division, you feel good. I said I expected to do well but didn't know how realistic it was. The boys swung the bats today, and I'll take my chances with that many runs any time."

The 27-year-old righthander has won 10 straight against the Dodgers and is a perfect 6-0 lifetime vs. the NL West Division rivals at Petco Park.

"(Peavy) is one of the big keys for our success, and having him back out there was pretty awesome," San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez said. "It's always good for a guy coming off the DL to get him some runs, and he can just pitch."

Los Angeles did little to threaten Peavy, with James Loney's fifth-inning double the team's lone extra-base hit. It did, however, snap a string of 12 consecutive batters retired by the ace, who left after six innings.

"(Peavy) was ready to pitch today, you could tell," Padres manager Bud Black said. "Getting Jake back has been a bonus. We're getting some more timely hits, too, and with the stabilization of the bullpen, we've won some close games."

Justin Hampson, Bryan Corey and Mike Adams each tossed a scoreless inning to secure San Diego's 10th win in 14 games.

Brian Giles and Gonzalez hit back-to-back homers as the Padres staked Peavy to a hefty early lead, building a 5-0 advantage in the first inning against Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda.

"(Giles) hit the three-run blast that kind of got us all going," Gonzalez said. "Everything just started rolling from there."

Luke Carlin drew a bases-loaded walk in the third that pushed the lead to six and chased Kuroda.

Kuroda (3-6), who tossed a shutout in his previous start, was rocked for six runs, five hits and four walks in just 2 1/3 innings.

"It just didn't look like (Kuroda) was comfortable out there, for some reason," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "He'd been fine beforehand. His side day was OK, his warm-up normal, but when he got out there, he wasn't missing by much, but he was missing. He got himself in some bad counts, and terrible results followed."

It was the shortest outing in 14 starts for the 33-year-old Japanese righthander, who made his major league debut here in April.

Gonzalez singled home brother Edgar Gonzalez in the seventh and the Padres tacked on two more runs in the eighth to provide the final margin.

Loney collected a pair of hits for the Dodgers, who have lost nine of their last 11 road games.

"We didn't really mount any kind of an offense," Torre said. "We've been struggling to score runs, so to go down 5-0, especially against a guy like Peavy, it's tough to try to overcome."