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Headley ignites uprising as Padres topple Nationals

Sep 20, 2008 - 6:21 AM By Tim Hipps PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Chase Headley laced a go-ahead RBI triple in the top of the 14th inning to spark a five-run rally as the San Diego Padres recorded an 11-6 victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday.

Nationals reliever Levale Speigner (0-1) hit Kevin Kouzmanoff with a pitch to lead off the frame, setting up Headley's decisive hit.

"I thought when I first hit it that it had a chance to get out, but as long as we scored ...," Headley said. "Don't get me wrong, I would have loved for it to be a home run, but as long as we finally broke through after I don't know how many scoreless innings we had in a row."

Nick Hundley followed with an RBI single, Brian Giles walked with the bases loaded and Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run single to cap the outburst.

"It was a relief, but the last thing we wanted to do was go back out ahead by one and have them put up a run or two, so it was important to scratch out a couple more," Headley said. "Once someone breaks through, the tension drops a little bit and people relax and come up with hits."

"Chase got the big hit in the 14th and Hundley was another key guy contributing, but it was a tremendous team win," Padres manager Bud Black added. "We exhausted pretty much our entire bullpen. We exhausted our bench. We were using pitchers to bunt and having a lot of guys doing good work for the good of the team."

Justin Hampson (2-1), who was one of eight relievers utilized by San Diego, tossed a scoreless 13th inning to earn the victory. Making his 900th appearance for the Padres, Trevor Hoffman pitched a perfect 14th to end the game.

"I guess we held them, and they held us, for a while," Black said. "They all end eventually. It's not cricket."

Will Venable, who went 3-for-7 with a homer and three RBI, smacked a run-scoring single in the eighth to give the Padres a 6-5 lead, but Cristian Guzman's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the frame knotted the score.

"We kind of got into a stalemate there for a while and it was one of those deals where neither team got that timely hit that we needed to pull ahead," Venable said. "It was just one of those things where it got to be a grind and who was going to not give in and stay focused for the longest.

"It was great for it to finally be over. It was one of those wins I think we might be able to feed off of."

Back-to-back doubles off the wall by Kouzmanoff and Headley chased Nationals starter Collin Balester in the sixth. Righthander Garrett Mock entered and walked Hundley to load the bases for the Padres.

After striking out Sean Kazmar and pinch hitter Drew Macias, Mock yielded an RBI single to Venable that plated Kouzmanoff to give the Padres a 5-4 advantage.

The Nationals responded in the following frame with consecutive singles by Roger Bernadina and pinch hitter Willie Harris, and Emilio Bonafacio's sacrifice fly tied the score at 5-5.

Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman went 0-for-7 with an RBI.

The game was the first for San Diego at Nationals Park, but the Padres have won nine of 10 games in Washington since baseball returned to the nation's capital in 2005.

"Just keep battling, no matter what happens," Headley said. "You have to be mentally tough to go out there and not get mentally fatigued. Everybody out there is tired, but it's the mental side that ends up winning the game or losing the game. Just give yourself a chance to win the game and not give it away.

"It's always fun to win extra-inning games. Hopefully, we can build on it a little bit and take a series."