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Young propels Padres past Nationals

Sep 21, 2008 - 2:53 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Chris Young belted his first career home run in the seventh inning and also tossed seven shutout innings as the San Diego Padres recorded a 6-1 triumph over the Washington Nationals on Saturday.

Edgar Gonzalez blasted a two-run shot in the fifth inning and Adrian Gonzalez notched his 115th RBI of the season for San Diego (60-95), which is trying to avoid its first 100-loss season in 15 years. The Padres, who won back-to-back road games for the first time since August 9-10 at Colorado, were victorious for just the fourth time in their last 11 games.

The 6-foot-10 Young (6-6) allowed just two hits while walking four and striking out five to win for just the third time since May 16.

At the plate, Young belted a solo blast to deep center field to become the second Padres pitcher to homer this season. Cha Seung Baek accomplished the feat with his blast against the St. Louis Cardinals on July 20.

"The home run was a lot of fun," Young said. "It's something I haven't experienced in my big league career - since high school for that matter. I got lucky. It hit my bat."

"You don't see that every day when a pitcher goes deep," San Diego manager Bud Black said. "He shows that in batting practice. I don't know whether it's surprising power, but it's power."

John Lannan (9-14) allowed four runs and four hits for Washington, which has lost nine of its last 11 games. The 23-year-old lefthander walked three and striking out five.

"Chris Young's a big guy. I threw that ball, it was a good pitch, and he just got a good piece of it," Lannan said. "And then that pitch to Edgar, that was a slider. It stayed up and he got a good piece of that one, too."

Second baseman Emilio Bonifacio's throwing error allowed Nick Hundley to open the scoring in the fifth inning, and Edgar Gonzalez followed with a two-run shot to left to give the Padres a 3-0 advantage.

Young increased the lead to four with his solo shot in the seventh, and Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Headley added run-scoring singles in the eighth to give San Diego a six-run bulge.

"The Padres were here last night until the 14th. It had nothing to do with that," Nationals manager Manny Acta said of his team's flat performance. "No whining, no excuses and no weeping. We got beat."

Aaron Boone's ground rule double to deep left center plated Bonifacio for the lone Nationals run.