MLB Selecciones
SD

3

6-8
Final
HOU

5

5-10
CronicaNumeritos
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
SD 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 8 0
HOU 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 - 5 6 2

W: Melancon (8-4)

L: Latos (9-14)

S: Lyon (4)

Minute Maid Park, Houston
Associated Press 13y

Pinch hitter Joe Inglett delivers as Astros nip Padres

HOUSTON -- Pinch-hitter Joe Inglett got a tiebreaking hit. Carlos Lee made an inning-ending catch with runners on base. Nelson Figueroa bounced back from two rough starts.

Enough little things went Houston's way Saturday night and the Astros beat the San Diego Padres 5-3.

"Hopefully I can remember all the good things that happened," manager Brad Mills said. "It was a good night."

With the score tied at 3 in the seventh, Inglett was batting for reliever Mark Melancon. He hit the first pitch from Chad Qualls for an RBI single.

"I'll never get away from that," Inglett said. "That's probably the best pitch you're ever going to see, you don't want to get to the secondary [pitches]. I'm going to stay with that approach until the day I'm done doing this.

"It was a good day for the team as a whole."

Angel Sanchez also had a run-scoring single in the seventh.

Figueroa settled in after allowing two first inning runs. He went 6 2/3 innings with five strikeouts and two walks.

"I spoke all week about changing that mindset," Figueroa said. "Just bear down and make better pitches and utilize my defense a little more. I don't have to do it all myself. That was the game plan tonight."

Melancon (1-0) entered with runners on first and third and got Orlando Hudson to hit a low fly to left but Lee made a belly-flop catch to end the inning and keep the score tied at 3. Right fielder Hunter Pence made a diving catch in the ninth, too.

"That was key to the game," Black said. "Our club talks about that all the time, the importance of defense and how it related to run prevention. You saw two examples tonight late in the game of balls that were hit well that were turned into outs that could have changed the complexion of the game."

Brandon Lyon got his third save in four chances.

Mat Latos (0-2) pitched 6 1/3 innings for the Padres but after striking out Brett Wallace to start the seventh, he walked the next two batters to set up Inglett's go-ahead hit.

Latos had not allowed a run against the Astros in 16 1/3 innings.

"I felt really good," Latos said. "I hit my spots for the most part, but I started to leave my ball up. Later in the game, I don't know if I was tired or what, but I just wasn't feeling it."

Chase Headley came close to having two homers. He settled for two long doubles in helping the Padres build a 3-1 lead after four innings.

Figueroa allowed two runs in the first inning. Will Venable reached on second baseman Matt Downs' fielding error and Hudson walked before Headley stroked a long double to the top of the hill in center field.

Headley also doubled to the left field wall in the fourth and scored on Brad Hawpe's single to left field for a 3-1 lead.

Chris Johnson tied it for Houston in the bottom half with his first homer of the year. Lee singled ahead of the home run.

Latos has allowed three homers in two starts this season.

The Astros got one run in the first. Centerfielder Michael Bourn reached on an infield hit, stole his seventh base this season, and scored on Pence's double between the gap in right-center.

Game notes
Padres outfielder Kyle Blanks is continuing his rehab assignment as a DH with Double-A San Antonio. He went 3 for 6 and scored four runs in Friday's game. Hudson went 0 for 3, ending his 11-game hitting streak. The Padres are eight games into a 20-game stretch without a day off; they won't get a day off until April 28.

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