San Diego 4, LA Angels 0
When: 10:05 PM ET, Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Where: Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, California
Temperature:
67°
Umpires:
Home -
Ted Barrett, 1B -
Chris Conroy, 2B -
Angel Hernandez, 3B -
Scott Barry
Attendance:
32334
By The Sports Xchange
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The month of May can't end soon enough for Matt Kemp, but the San Diego Padres right fielder now has something he hopes will help turn things around for him in June and beyond.
Kemp broke a scoreless tie with a two-out, three-run double off Angels reliever Joe Smith in the 10th inning, lifting the Padres to a 4-0 win over Los Angeles on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium.
Kemp's big hit made a winner of Padres reliever Dale Thayer (1-0), one of six San Diego pitchers to combine on a five-hit shutout. Craig Kimbrel pitched the bottom of the 10th in a non-save situation.
Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in an offseason trade, Kemp so far has not left a good impression on Padres fans. Before Tuesday, things were going especially poorly: He entered the game hitting .172 this month and had just two extra-base hits. And he still hasn't homered since April 18.
"I've said before, baseball is a grind," said Kemp, who increased his RBI total to 25, though he has only nine this month. "You go through your ups and your downs and continue to come to the ballpark with a good attitude and try to work through it as a team.
"I feel that I can still hit, I'm still a good hitter. You just go through those stretches when things aren't going your way. I think I hit that stretch, so the earlier the better. Get that out of the way and I can do some things to help this team win."
Designated hitter Jedd Gyorko got the Padres' winning rally started with a leadoff single, and he was replaced by pinch runner Abraham Almonte. A sacrifice bunt by shortstop Alexi Amarista and walks by first baseman Yangervis Solarte and center fielder Will Venable loaded the bases with one out for left fielder Justin Upton.
Upton struck out, but Kemp came through with his bases-clearing hit, lining a 1-0 pitch from Smith (1-2) into the left field corner. The Padres added another run in the inning on an RBI single by catcher Derek Norris.
Smith pitched two innings Monday night, and Angels manager Mike Scioscia was hoping he wouldn't have to use him Tuesday.
"We were trying to stay away from him as much as we could," Scioscia said. "He just lost his release point to walk some lefties, and Matt Kemp got a big hit off him. Joe usually keeps the ball down and gets a lot of groundballs, but Matt Kemp didn't miss it."
Both Angels starter Matt Shoemaker and Padres starter Odrisamer Despaigne threw well, matching each other zero for zero through much of the game.
In his seven innings, Shoemaker gave up four hits and one walk while striking out six. Despaigne pitched six innings, allowing five hits and no walks while striking out five.
Shoemaker was coming off his worst start of the season, in which he gave up eight runs (seven earned) in a loss to the San Francisco Giants, but he turned things around Tuesday.
"His stuff looked really good, nice and easy, velocity, he wasn't trying to overthrow," Scioscia said. "Mixed all his pitches in, some splits when he needed to to get back in the counts. He pitched the way he pitched last year, and that was great to see."
For Despaigne, it was his best start since his season debut, when he gave up one run and two hits in seven innings in a win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Angels' biggest early threat against Despaigne came in the first inning after both first baseman Albert Pujols and right fielder Kole Calhoun singled with two outs. Third baseman David Freese followed with a scorching line drive that appeared to be headed down the right field line, but Solarte made a leaping catch, saving two runs and ending the inning.
The Padres' defense came up with another big play in the third inning, when Venable reached over the fence to rob Angels center fielder Mike Trout of a two-run homer.
"Amazing, amazing catch," Kemp said of Venable's grab. "I wasn't
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| San Diego
|
9 |
0 |
10 |
.243 |
17 |
10 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
| LA Angels
|
5 |
0 |
5 |
.147 |
12 |
9 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
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