Padres come up on short end of slugfest in the desert

By: BRIAN HIRO - Staff Writer | Thursday, May 26, 2005 12:24 AM PDT ∞

PHOENIX ---- The Arizona Diamondbacks have done a commendable job of righting a ship that was the most wayward in baseball last season. Their 27 victories entering play Wednesday put them nearly a month ahead of their snail's pace from 2004, when they lost a franchise-record 111 times.

Midway through their game against the Padres on Wednesday night, Arizona received an unwelcome visit from the old Diamondbacks, as a pair of fifth-inning errors opened the door for the Padres to score five unearned runs and grab a three-run lead.

At that point, the old Snakes might have slithered back into the grass. The new ones bared their fangs, twice rallying in the game's second half and holding on for a wild 12-11 win in front of 20,769 at Bank One Ballpark.

"We battled to the end and just came up a little short," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "That was a game with very little pitching."

Arizona beat the Padres for the fourth time in five games in Phoenix to seize back first place in the National League West by a half-game. After winning six consecutive series, the Padres will try to avoid dropping their second in a row when ace Jake Peavy takes the mound tonight.

The loss Wednesday will come with consequences for one of the leaders of the Padres' vaunted bullpen. Entrusted with a 9-8 lead in the eighth inning, setup man Akinori Otsuka squandered it by allowing the Diamondbacks to load the bases with no outs. All three runners came around to score after left-hander Dennys Reyes replaced Otsuka.

Bochy said the shaky performance ---- together with another one on Tuesday, when Otsuka gave up a two-run homer to Craig Counsell ---- has left him with no choice but to demote Otsuka in the bullpen ranks.

"We're going to have to make an adjustment until we get him on track," said Bochy, who plans to elevate Scott Linebrink into the role setting up closer Trevor Hoffman, with Chris Hammond and Rudy Seanez in support.

"He's definitely out of sync with his command. He doesn't look quite as confident. He's getting behind and not throwing strikes."

The Diamondbacks' four-run surge in the eighth, capped by Royce Clayton's two-run single up the middle, spoiled a fine comeback effort by the Padres.

After watching Arizona ride three fifth-inning homers to an 8-6 lead, the Padres rallied. They tied the score on Ramon Hernandez's two-out double down the right-field line in the seventh ---- extending his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games ---- and grabbed the lead when Ryan Klesko drove in Damian Jackson with a single in the eighth.

Down 12-9, the Padres nearly stunned Arizona in the ninth. Facing Brian Bruney, the stand-in for injured closer Brandon Lyon, Khalil Greene hit a two-out, two-run triple to center for his fourth hit of the game. But with Greene just 90 feet away with the tying run, Geoff Blum flied out to right.

Padres left-hander Darrell May had showed signs of recovering from a shaky start ---- he allowed three runs in the first inning ---- when the Diamondbacks followed the Padres' five-run outburst in the fifth with one of their own. A single by Counsell and a double off the center-field wall by Clayton brought the tying run to the plate. May struck out Luis Gonzalez looking, but Troy Glaus then crushed a 2-1 pitch 415 feet to left-center field for a three-run homer, the 13th this season for the Carlsbad High product.

That was the end of May's night, but Arizona didn't exactly give Seanez a chance to ease in. Tony Clark ---- whose two-run double in the first ricocheted off a railing in deep center field, just below the yellow home-run stripe ---- cleared the line this time by hitting Seanez's first pitch 428 feet. One out later, Luis Terrero gave the Diamondbacks an 8-6 lead with a solo shot to left.

May, whose turn in the rotation was moved up three days, allowed six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.

"After the first inning, he was throwing very well," Bochy said. "In the fifth he just lost it."

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