Giles' home run keys Padres' win

By: BRIAN HIRO - Staff Writer | Saturday, May 1, 2004 11:31 PM PDT ∞

New York Mets' Karim Garcia is safe at third base as he gets under a tag by San Diego Padres third baseman Sean Burroughs in the fourth inning at Petco Park
JT Lovette for The North County Times
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SAN DIEGO ---- The white-hot Padres are feeling right at home in their new ballpark, and no one more so than Brian Giles. After going 5-4 in their first homestand, the Padres stretched their Petco Park winning streak to six with a 3-1 victory over the New York Mets in front of 42,064 on Saturday night, a game that was played under protest by the Mets. And after Giles exited the first homestand mired in one of the worst slumps of his career, he'll leave town this time with his bat ---- like the Padres ---- absolutely scorching.

The right fielder went 3-for-5 Saturday, including a two-run home run beyond the part of Petco that has come to be known as Death Valley, as the Padres closed within a win of polishing off a perfect week before they head out on a six-day road trip to Atlanta and Florida. At 16-9, the Padres have more victories than any team in baseball, although the Los Angeles Dodgers remain percentage points ahead of them in the National League West.

Giles' blast, his club-best fifth of the season, and another one by Brian Buchanan supplied plenty of support for right-hander Jake Peavy (2-1), who surrendered only one run and struck out seven in six innings. Peavy, who lowered his ERA to 1.80, has yet to allow more than two runs in any of his six starts this season.

The game took a turn for the bizarre in the eighth inning when Padres reliever Akinori Otsuka came out of the bullpen to try to protect the lead. After one pitch, Mets manager Art Howe walked onto the field to lodge a formal protest of Otsuka's delivery with home-plate umpire Alfonso Marquez.

"We felt it was an illegal pitch, the way he was delivering the ball, separating his hands in the middle of his windup, going in and out of his glove," Howe said. "We want them to get him to pitch correctly."

Padres manager Bruce Bochy said the Mets raised their concerns about Otsuka's delivery to the umpires and Padres bench coach Tony Muser during the lineup exchange before the game. Bochy later talked to first-base umpire and crew chief Rick Reed, who told him that he would have likely called a balk if a runner had reached base against Otsuka.

"He's not trying to deceive a hitter," Bochy said. "That's his style. Obviously, the umps don't think it's wrong because they didn't ask him to change."

Otsuka pitched a perfect eighth with one strikeout, extending his streak of scoreless innings to 12 2/3. After the game, the first-year major-leaguer said he never ran into a problem with his delivery in seven years of Japanese baseball.

"Several pitchers in Japan do it," Otsuka said through his interpreter.

"I'll check with Major League Baseball, and if I have to change I will. It doesn't really matter. But I'll keep doing it until they tell me to change."

After taking Friday off, closer Trevor Hoffman worked around a single in the ninth to record his seventh save.

With the game tied 1-1 and two outs in the sixth, Giles got hold of a 2-1 pitch from Mets reliever John Franco (0-2) and ripped it into the sand pit beyond the wall in right-center field, 419 feet away. He improved to 11-for-22 (.500) with three homers and six RBIs on the current homestand to improve his average to .258. When the Padres left San Diego two weeks ago, he was in the midst of an 0-for-19 drought that sent his average plummeting to .111.

"I feel comfortable," Giles said. "The last 10 days I've been swinging it pretty well. It's nice to swing well and feel like you're getting rewarded."

Buchanan, who started for the injured Ryan Klesko, gave the Padres their first run when he homered into the Western Metal Supply Co. building in the fifth inning.

The Padres had trouble solving Mets left-hander Al Leiter, who held them scoreless through four despite struggling with his control. Leiter walked seven batters in five innings but repeatedly wriggled out of jams. He threw 113 pitches, only 52 of which were for strikes.

Contact staff writer Brian Hiro at b_hiro@hotmail.com.