Sat Sep 29 23:56:08 2007

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Padres can't clinch, lose in 11 to Brewers

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Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Vinny Rottino's one-out pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning gave the Milwaukee Brewers a 4-3 victory and denied the San Diego Padres a playoff berth for at least one more day.

Rottino hit a ground ball through the left side off Padres reliever Joe Thatcher (2-2) to drive home Ryan Braun, who had roped a leadoff double, and complete a Brewers comeback that saw them tie the game on a Tony Gwynn two-out triple off closer Trevor Hoffman in the bottom of the ninth.

San Diego's magic number to clinch a playoff spot remained at one. The Padres maintained a one-game lead in the muddled wild card race over the NL East co- division leaders, Philadelphia and New York. They also have a 1 1/2 game lead on the Colorado Rockies and are 1 1/2 games behind Arizona, which has already secured a playoff spot, in the NL West. The Rockies host the Diamondbacks Saturday night. A Diamondbacks win Saturday would give them the NL West title, but a loss would mean an incredible playoff jumble going into Sunday.

The Padres will now be forced to send Cy Young candidate Jake Peavy to the hill Sunday in what has become a must-win game. San Diego had hoped to be able to rest Peavy in order to have him for a mid-week start in Game 1 of a National League Division Series.

Rickie Weeks hit a solo home run and Geoff Jenkins banged an RBI triple for the Brewers, who managed just two hits through eight innings one day after being eliminated from the playoff race themselves.

Dave Bush allowed 10 hits over 6 2/3 innings, but surrendered only three runs to keep Milwaukee in the game. Bush walked just one and struck out three before being relieved by six Milwaukee pitchers who combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings.

Mitch Stetter (1-0) picked up the win after getting the third out in the top of the 11th, replacing Chris Spurling.

Adrian Gonzalez hit a home run and drove in three, and Brian Giles banged out three hits and scored a run for the Padres.

Chris Young went six innings, allowing just two earned runs on two hits, striking out seven and walking four, to put the normally reliable San Diego relief duo of Heath Bell and Hoffman in position to preserve the clinching win.

Hoffman began the ninth by fanning Prince Fielder, but Corey Hart roped a one- out double to left to bring the winning run to the plate. Laynce Nix went down swinging before Gwynn, pinch-hitting for Bill Hall, lined a triple down the right field line to score Hart and tie the game. Hoffman got Mike Rivera to ground out for the third out, sending the game into extra innings.

The Padres grabbed a first inning lead as Giles led off with a double, moved to third on Kevin Kouzmanoff's fly ball to right, and then scored on a single to right by Gonzalez.

Jenkins tied things for Milwaukee in the bottom of the second with a two-out triple scoring Fielder, who had walked and stolen second.

Weeks' homer in the fifth gave the Brewers a short-lived 2-1 lead, because Gonzalez responded once again in the top of the sixth with a solo shot of his own, his 28th of the year.

San Diego then regained the lead in the seventh when Oscar Robles led off with a single, and pinch-runner Drew Macias came home thanks to back-to-back singles by Kouzmanoff and Gonzalez.

Bell retired the first two batters of the eighth with relative ease, before issuing a walk to J.J. Hardy. He then got Braun swinging to end the inning, bridging the gap to Hoffman for the potential save.

Game Notes

Milwaukee set a season attendance record with a crowd of 40, 946, breaking a previous mark set in 2001, Miller Park's inaugural season...Weeks has scored in 11 straight games, and has nine HRs in September, after just seven in the first five months of the season...Macias made his ML debut when he pinch-ran in the seventh.