• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Young pitches gem as Padres blank Phillies

Jul 20, 2007 - 6:01 AM SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Chris Young bested Cole Hamels in a duel between All-Star pitchers.

Young hurled seven scoreless innings as the San Diego Padres needed just three hits to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0, on Thursday in the opener of a four-game series.

Young (9-3) allowed just two hits and did not permit a runner to reach third base in lowering his major league-best ERA to 1.85. The 6-10 righthander struck out six and walked three.

"In any game, it doesn't matter what the score is, my job doesn't change," Young said. "I'm just trying to go out and execute pitches, and the more good pitches I make, I feel like the better results I have. It sounds pretty simple, but that's what I try to do."

The 27-year-old Young continued his dominance at Petco Park, where he has not allowed a run in six of nine outings, including his last 21 innings over three starts.

"(Young) has been great, and that's probably an understatement," Padres manager Bud Black said. "Statistically, to do what he has done, it's impressive pitching."

Chase Utley and Ryan Howard were the only Phillies to reach base against Young, who improved to 3-0 with a 0.75 ERA in his last six starts.

"(Young) is very deceptive with his fastball," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "He's got late life on it, and he commanded it real good. He definitely has no fear. He came right at us. That's one of the better games that somebody pitched against us."

Heath Bell tossed a scoreless eighth and Trevor Hoffman worked around a hit and a walk in the ninth to collect his 27th save of the season and 509th career.

"You look at that matchup tonight, and it turned out to be everything it was billed as," Black said. "Two All-Star pitchers at the top of their game. They matched each other. It was just a great pitching performance by both guys."

Brian Giles provided all of the offense Young needed in the third inning with a double down the left field line that plated Geoff Blum for a 1-0 edge. It marked the fifth time this year that Young has started a game that ended in a 1-0 victory for San Diego.

"We happened to get two hits in an inning and score a run," Black said. "When we get opportunities to get some guys on base to knock some runs in, I sense that our awareness heightens. It's always a good sign when you win these types of games."

Hamels (11-5) was saddled with the loss despite a solid effort in which he yielded just one run and two hits - both in the decisive third inning - with a walk and three strikeouts in seven frames. The 23-year-old lefthander retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.

"Going up against Chris Young, he's a tough guy," Hamels said. "There is a reason he is leading the league in ERA. When you give up only one run, that definitely puts your team in a good position to win. But unfortunately, when you're playing against Chris Young, it doesn't work that way."

"(Hamels) really started clicking there in the fifth and sixth inning," Manuel said. "That was when he really started getting good and getting his pitches over the plate."

Blum added another hit in the eighth as San Diego managed just three for the fourth time this month, winning two of those contests.

Philadelphia had scoring chances in the fourth and sixth innings, when Utley and Howard both reached safely. But Young escaped unscathed both times, retiring All-Star Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell in the fourth and setting down Rowand again in the sixth.

"I don't put that pressure on myself," Young said. "I just try to go out and make good pitches, regardless of what the score is. As the game progresses, you start to let the situation dictate what you do a little bit. You don't let certain guys beat you late in the game."

Utley recorded both of the hits allowed by Young for the Phillies, who have lost four of their last five.