Padres Tease, Succumb to DBacks

The Friars rallied back from a 5-1 deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game on a 2 run Petco Porch home run by Milton Bradley, but eventually fell to the Diamondback 9-5 in the eleventh inning. Bradley's first pitch dinger capped off RBI hits by Geoff Blum and Mike Cameron off Arizona closer Jose Valverde. With the game knotted up in the eleventh, Scott Hairston nearly pulled off a spectacular diving catch in left field. Hairston had secured the ball mid-dive, but lost it when his glove hit the ground. Heath Bell was unable to recover, despite pitching well prior to allowing a Chad Tracy home run. It marked only the second home run allowed in 2007 by Bell. Tracy's 3 run shot to dead center topped off Eric Byrnes' weakly hit infield single, which plated the go ahead run. The Padres followed with a 1-2-3 bottom of the eleventh.

Earlier in the game, Brian Giles injured his ankle making a fine catch while simultaneously crashing into the right field wall. He continued on, but pulled himself from the game after walking in the fifth. He's listed as day-to-day with a sprained ankle. Mike Cameron was also snake bit, repeatedly falling victim to mid-count strikezone enlargements by home plate umpire Mike Reilly. It marked the second straight night that Cameron clashed with Reilly. Arizona center fielder and possible Rookie of the Year Chris Young also robbed Cameron of a grand slam to right center.