WASHINGTON DC–Harry Truman famously had a sign on his desk in the Oval Office which said, “The buck stops here.” For the Padres, losing streaks stop with Mat Latos.
Working seven shutout innings and adding his first career home run, Latos improved to 10-4 on the season as the Padres beat the Washington Nationals 7-1 at Nationals Park, salvaging one win out of the three game series. Latos prevented the Padres from suffering their first road three-game losing streak of the season.
On Thursday night Latos was in command from start to finish in his seven innings of work. He allowed five hits (all singles), striking out eight against two walks, and retiring eleven straight batters at one point.
Over his past four starts (including Thursday) Latos has allowed one earned run in 27 2/3’s innings.
“I’ve really tried to pound the strike zone and get (batters) to swing early in the count,” said Latos, “That has been the biggest change since the beginning of the year.”
Although the temperature at game time on Thursday was a much more manageable 86 degrees, the ball was still flying out of Nationals Park. This time, however, all of the four homers hit in the game came off of Padres bats.
As they did in each of the previous two games, San Diego got on the scoreboard in the first inning, as Chase Headley doubled and came home on Yorvit Torrealba’s single. Unlike the previous two nights, the Padres built on their advantage.
Center fielder Chris Denorfia, starting for the injured Tony Gwynn (bruised heel), hit his second home run of the series in the fourth, taking the first pitch he saw from Nats starter Luis Atilano (6-6) over the left field fence.
Later in the inning it was Latos’ turn, sizzling a line drive over the left field wall for his first career home run.
“(Atilano) threw me four sliders in my first at-bat and I put bad swings on all of them,” said Latos, “I thought in the next at-bat he might try something else and I was able to put some good contact on it.”
Latos got his home run ball back, but only after some protracted negotiations by the PEN-itentiary. The Padres bullpen was able to retrieve the ball from a Nats fan in exchange for five signed baseballs. Latos laughingly credited the ‘pen for “working as a team.”
More important was Latos’ pitching, as the young phenom both steadied a rotation rocked by back-to-back poor starts, rested the bullpen, and furthered his own cause as a possible NL All-Star injury replacement.
Mat became the first Padres pitcher to win 10 games before the All-Star break since Brian Lawrence in 2004. Suffice it to say, Latos has a bit more upside.
“As he moved through the end of May, [Darren] Balsley encouraged him to use the curveball, so now he is fastball, curveball, slider, change, and he uses all four pitches effectively, said an appreciative Padres manager Bud Black.
“I think that has been a big factor for him.”
While scouts and outsiders focus on Latos’ velocity, the Nationals seemed more bothered on Thursday by his ability to add and subtract from his fastball, and the curveball was the primary strikeout pitch.
“Today I was pulling off my slider a bit, I only threw a couple I was happy with, but my changeup and curveball really helped me out today,” said Latos.
Chase Headley continued a hot streak at the plate with a 3-for-4 night, including his 6th homer of the year, a two-run shot in the seventh. Headley finished a triple short of the cycle.
The thought of accomplishing the first cycle in Padres history crossed Headley’s mind, but not for long.
“For a guy of my speed, the triple is not the easiest hit to get,” said a grinning Headley.
The only stumble in the game came from Luke Gregerson, who was bothered by a sore lower back last week and has now been scored upon in a season-worst three consecutive appearances. Gregerson allowed the first three runners he faced to reach base, including Adam Dunn’s RBI single, before settling down to induce a double play and escape the inning.
Jerry Hairston Jr. added a cherry on top in the 9th with a solo shot, his 6th homer of the year, to close the scoring.
Padres Notes: Center fielder Tony Gwynn suffered his bruised heel when he came down awkwardly after scaling the fence in fruitless pursuit of one of Adam Dunn’s three homers on Wednesday. Gwynn is considered day-to-day…Chase Headley is batting .361 since June 22nd with three doubles, two homers and seven RBI.
Up Next: The Padres fly to Denver overnight to open a first-half ending showdown series with the Colorado Rockies. Colorado is red hot, having swept the Cardinals to climb within three games of the NL West lead. The Padres will miss Ubaldo Jimenez, who won his MLB-best 15th game of the season on Thursday. Kevin Correia faces Jorge De La Rosa in Friday’s opener. De La Rosa, one of the top lefty arms in the NL West, has been out since April 25th with a finger injury. San Diego has won four of Correia’s last five road starts, despite Correia posting a 6.08 ERA over that span.
Craig Elsten -
Chainsaw -
