RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- With the damage in his left calf not nearly as bad as he suspected, Padres right-hander Woody Williams guessed he'd return to San Diego sooner rather than later.

He began to make good on that assumption Wednesday.

Williams struck out five in three scoreless innings, Brent Carter followed with five strong innings in relief and Chase Headley jumpstarted an opportunistic offense with a first-inning homer in Lake Elsinore's 6-3 win over Rancho Cucamonga before 2,248 at The Epicenter.

"It wasn't as blown up as we thought," Williams said after finishing a 42-pitch outing without allowing a hit. "I'm a quick healer. … I'm pleased to be where I'm at."

Headley's homer gave the Storm (2-0) early returns against Rancho Cucamonga ace Jose Arredondo. Tim Brown broke a 1-1 tie with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly, and the Storm rallied off the Quakes' bullpen for four runs over the final two innings to secure a 7-2 road trip.

The Quakes' offense consisted of the walk and hit batter they managed off Williams, the solo homer that Michael Collins managed off Carter (5-2) with one out in the fourth and a two-run rally in the ninth that ended when left-hander Kyle Stutes (two runs on three hits in the ninth) got Ben Johnson to line out to third with a runner at first and the potential game-tying run standing on deck.

Jeremy Cleveland drove in three runs on two hits, Peter Ciofrone collected three hits and the Storm rode two solid pitching performances to their second win in a row to start the second half.

After Collins' one-out homer in the fourth, Carter didn't allow another hit until Cody Fuller doubled with two outs in the eighth.

The Storm left-hander struck out three and didn't walk a batter in a solid outing that followed the shutout he fired Friday.

A bid for an encore was interrupted by an encouraging outing from Williams, who struck out two in the first, one in the second and two in the third, and suffered his only blemishes after retiring the first eight batters he faced.

Williams hit Fuller on his first pitch with two outs in the third and walked Josh LeBlanc on five pitches before striking out Nate Sutton to end a 42-pitch outing (25 strikes).

"I felt good," said Williams, who topped out at 88 mph and even mixed in a knuckleball in his outing. "I didn't have to cover first, but pitching I felt fine. … We'll find out more tomorrow and see if I can tie my shoes on my own. We'll see."

Williams missed a month early last season with a strained oblique. He had a 3-1 record with a 3.27 earned-run average in eight starts this year (the Padres won six of those) when he injured his calf while running the bases in Chicago on May 12.

The Padres initially feared Williams would be out two to three months. That prognosis was upped to early July, and Williams --- who once struck out 10 in a five-inning rehab stint for the Quakes in 2000 --- appeared on schedule Wednesday, finishing his planned three-inning, 50-pitch stint with eight pitches to spare.

"It's funny because I felt as strong as I ever have (coming into the season)," Williams said. "I'm confident I can get give them some quality innings when I come back and give the team a chance to win."