Gyorko, Padres Rebound With Blowout Win Over Miami

[May 10, 2014]  SAN DIEGO -- As if hitting .146 over the season's first 36 games wasn't bad enough for second-year San Diego Padres second baseman Jedd Gyorko, the events of Thursday night at Petco Park were even worse.

Gyorko's two-out error in the 11th inning set up Giancarlo Stanton's game-winning homer for Miami.

"That was one of the lowest points in my baseball career," Gyorko said Friday night after perhaps the highest moment.

Gyorko drove in a career-high six runs with a two-run homer and a grand slam off Marlins ace Jose Fernandez to lead the Padres to a 10-1 win over the Marlins in the second game of a four-game series on Friday.

"Jedd took Thursday's game hard," said Padres manager Bud Black after the Padres biggest run total and lop-sided win of the season. "He came through tonight in a big fashion."

Gyorko wasn't alone.

Right-handed starter Tyson Ross (4-3) held Miami to four hits and shut out the Marlins over the first six innings before center fielder Marcell Ozuna drove a 381-foot solo homer off the third balcony of the Western Metal Building in left to cut the Padre margin to 6-1.
 

And left fielder Seth Smith, like Gyorko, had three hits including a double and triple for two RBIs.

Gyorko put the Padres ahead 2-0 with a two-run homer off Fernandez in the second. He jumped on a first-pitch fastball and drove it 365 feet the opposite way into the right field stands. The homer followed a throwing error by Garrett Jones on a grounder to first by Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal.

"That was our approach," Gyorko said of hitting Fernandez's first pitch. "We didn't want to let Fernandez get ahead in the count and see that curve. We wanted to get on the fastball."

"They hit the fastball and that was their plan," said Fernandez (4-2), whose ERA climbed from 1.74 to 2.44 in the game. "Obviously, I didn't see it coming."

Gyorko made it 6-0 with the second grand slam of his career in the sixth -- marking the first time that Fernandez allowed two home runs in a game (36 starts) or a grand slam.

Gyorko was only 1-for-14 with the bases loaded in his career before his grand slam ignited a six-run inning that was the Padres' biggest since a six-run inning against San Francisco on April 27, 2013. Gyorko's 418-drive to left followed back-to-back singles by Everth Cabrera and Smith and a walk drawn by Grandal.

The six RBIs were a career high for Gyorko and tied the Padres record for RBIs by a second baseman.

The 10 runs represented a season high for the Padres, who had scored a major league-low 92 runs in their first 36 games. Their previous high for runs this season was six.

Ross had eight strikeouts with two walks.

The Padres win snapped a season-best, five-game winning streak for the Marlins, who are now a major league-worst 3-11 on the road. The Padres had lost three in a row at Petco Park.

The first of the Marlins four hits off Ross left a mark. Third baseman Casey McGehee hit a line drive back to the mound in the first that hit Ross just above his right ankle and ricocheted almost back to Grandal.

Ross gave up a, two-out, second-inning single to shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria and walked left fielder Christian Yelich to open the third. But Yelich was eliminated in a double play as Ross retired 11 straight Marlins before Stanton singled with two out in the sixth.

Fernandez allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits and a walk in five-plus innings.

NOTES: Marlins RF Giancarlo Stanton didn't hit a homer Friday night, but he saved one. He leaped above the wall to keep Seth Smith's third-inning drive off Jose Fernandez in the ballpark. Stanton couldn't hold onto the ball, but Smith didn't score after his two-out triple . . . 3B Chase Headley will be activated from 15-day disabled list (right calf strain) Saturday . . . Padres manager Bud Black said LF Carlos Quentin could join Padres on the road next week . . . Padres RHP Casey Kelly's rehab has been upgraded from Single-A Lake Elsinore to Double-A San Antonio .

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