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Gwynn Jr. reaches 5 times, Pads rally for 6-4 win

Jun 7, 2009 - 5:52 AM By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO(AP) -- Tony Gwynn Jr. kept getting on base and kept getting stranded. Finally, he was able to come across with a big run.

Gwynn reached base a career-high five times and scored the go-ahead run in the six-run sixth inning to help the San Diego Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 on Saturday night, snapping a four-game losing streak.

The big inning ended a string of 15 scoreless innings for the Padres, who lost 8-0 to the Diamondbacks on Friday night and hadn't scored since the eighth inning of a 5-1 loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Kevin Correia (2-4) rebounded from a shaky first inning to earn the win, holding Arizona to two runs and five hits in six innings, with four strikeouts and one walk. Heath Bell gave up one run on a walk, a wild pitch and two grounders in the ninth for his 16th save in 17 opportunities.

Gwynn was obtained in a trade with Milwaukee on May 21, joining the team his Hall of Fame father played with for 20 years. Gwynn had a career-high three walks, a single, double and a stolen base.

"It's huge," Gwynn said. "Anytime you continue to get the leadoff guy on, even if it doesn't work out the first couple times, you keep turning that lineup over like that, you give yourself a good opportunity to score runs. Obviously you're not going to be able to get the hit all the time, but the guys we have hitting in our RBI spots, they're not going to miss every single time. The more opportunities you give them, the better off it's going to be."

Trailing 2-0 after stranding eight runners through the first five innings, the Padres finally broke through against three pitchers in the sixth. Will Venable had two hits, an RBI and scored a run that inning.

Venable hit a leadoff double and scored on Chris Burke's one-out, broken-bat RBI single that bounced off reliever Leo Rosales' foot and into left field. After pinch-hitter Edgar Gonzalez flied out, Rosales made way for rookie Daniel Schlereth.

Schlereth (0-2) faced four batters and failed to get an out, allowing four runs on one hit, two walks and a hit batter. He walked Gwynn, allowed David Eckstein's RBI single to tie it, walked Adrian Gonzalez to load the bases and then hit Chase Headley on the top of his left foot with a pitch to bring in Gwynn with the go-ahead run.

Brian Giles, who stranded seven runners in his first three at-bats, including four in scoring position, followed with a two-run single to right off Clay Zavada, and Venable had an RBI single.

Giles was able to put his shaky start behind him.

"You have to erase it," he said. "You can't go back and get back what you left out there. There was a lot of game left and I knew I was going to get another opportunity."

Schlereth said he didn't have command of his fastball.

"My body was out of whack, my delivery was inconsistent," he said. "When you're like that, you're not going to get anyone out."

Said manager A.J. Hinch: "We were in position to get outs, but gave them way too many bases for free."

The Diamondbacks held a meeting afterward.

"An internal meeting I needed to have, nothing that I care to comment on," Hinch said. "Just an internal issue."

Correia allowed two runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batter in the opening inning. But starting with the final batter of the first, he retired 15 of the last 17 Diamondbacks he faced. After throwing 34 pitches in the first, he threw 49 pitches over the next five innings.

Stephen Drew hit an RBI single in the first for the Diamondbacks, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. Eric Byrnes had two RBIs, including on an infield single in the first. Justin Upton homered off Edward Mujica in the eighth, his 11th.

"They were hitting the ball fairly decent early on and were making plays," Upton said. "But they put together an inning. It was tough for us to battle back."

Arizona starter Max Scherzer allowed three hits in five scoreless innings, struck out six and walked five.

Notes: Before their big sixth inning, the Padres had scored just one run in their previous 25 innings. ... San Diego's Chase Headley made his first start of the season at 3B as Kevin Kouzmanoff got the night off. ... Padres SS Luis Rodriguez, on the DL since spraining his left ankle on May 13, began a rehab assignment at Single-A Lake Elsinore on Saturday night.