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Patterson strong in Nationals win

May 1, 2007 - 6:35 AM SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- With a little help from their resurgent ace, the Washington Nationals took advantage of a tired San Diego Padres club.

John Patterson pitched six solid innings and the Nationals managed just enough offense against Jake Peavy to hold off the Padres, 3-2, on Monday.

Patterson (1-4) scattered four hits, yielding one run and striking out three, to pick up his first win of the season. The lone blemish was Terrmel Sledge's solo blast in the third inning.

"(Patterson) showed a good hook. He threw some sliders tonight, his fastball was decent velocity," Padres manager Bud Black said. "He made some pitches when we had guys in scoring position and wiggled out of it."

The effort was easily Patterson's strongest. The Nationals' ace entered the game with a 7.71 ERA and no wins, having failed to make it out of the sixth inning in any of his first five starts.

"We could see he kept his velocity from his last start and even threw a little bit harder," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "He had a little bit more 'giddy-up' (on his pitches). He had a good outing for us tonight."

The victory is the first for Patterson since April 15, 2006. The righthander missed much of last season with forearm problems.

"Early in the game, I definitely saw difference in the life of my fastball and the velocity was a little bit better, which carried over to my breaking ball," Patterson said. "It's great to get a win and get the monkey off of my back but I've got a long way to go."

Washington opened the scoring in the second, when Ryan Church doubled to left-center field off Peavy (3-1). Church advanced to third on Austin Kearns' flyout to right and score when Dmitri Young grounded out to first.

Church was hit by a pitch with two outs in the fourth and stole second base when Peavy inexplicably went into the wind-up with the runner on first. Peavy's momentary lapse of reason put Church into scoring position, and Kearns drove him home with a single.

"As soon as (Peavy) came set and went to his wind up, I took off," Church said. "That's what you are supposed to do. Easiest stolen base I've ever had."

"I just didn't think," Peavy said. "I had just got a big double play and just didn't think. It cost us the game and I take full responsibility for doing that."

Rookie Kory Casto plated Kearns with a double in the seventh to complete the scoring for the Nationals, who dropped five of six to the Padres in 2006.

Peavy pitched well, striking out 10 while allowing three runs and six hits in seven innings. San Diego's star righthander was coming off an outing at Arizona on Wednesday in which he struck out 16 in seven shutout innings, only to watch a rare implosion by the club's normally stout bullpen.

The Padres' hitters looked flat coming off their 17-inning marathon loss to the Dodgers on Sunday. Jose Cruz Jr. and Marcus Giles were given the night off and without two of their top hitters, San Diego had trouble getting anything going. Cruz came off the bench to pinch hit in the bottom of the seventh with runners on first and third, but grounded out to end the inning.

San Diego threatened in the eighth, when Josh Bard hit a solo blast to deep left off Ray King to cut the deficit to 3-2. Righthander Jon Rauch entered and retired Khalil Greene on a flyout to the warning track in center field to end the inning.

"We're in a little bit of a stretch where we're not hitting like we're capable," Black said. "I think all teams go through that during the course of a season. We're going to score our runs. We've just got to keep fighting through it."

Three relievers bridged the gap to closer Chad Cordero, who pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in seven chances.