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 However, when Dominic Brown approached the plate with one out in
the fifth, the Philadelphia left fielder noticed the Padres had
three infielders on the right side of the diamond and only shortstop
Alexi Amarista on the left side -- and Amarista was far off the
line.
Brown pushed a hard bunt to where the third baseman would normally
be playing and beat it out for the Phillies' first hit of game --
and one of only two Philadelphia had on the night.
Cashner threw the third shutout of his career in a 1-0 San Diego
win.
While Padres manager Bud Black and catcher Rene Rivera had no issues
with the way Brown broke up the latest bid for the first no-hitter
in the 45-year history of the franchise, Cashner was irked.
When asked about his reaction to Brown's bunt single, Cashner said:
"You can ask him what I thought of it." Not once, but twice.
"I can't tell you what he said, but he was mad," said Brown, who
grounded out to the middle man in the Padres' shift in his
second-inning at-bat.
Brown said he wouldn't have tried to bunt for the first hit if
Cashner were working on a no-hitter in the ninth. However, it was
the fifth-inning of a one-run game.
"I'm trying to get on," Brown said.
Right fielder Marlon Byrd eased the pain on Cashner by collecting
the Phillies' second hit leading off the eighth. Like Brown in the
fifth, Byrd was erased on a double play. Cashner faced one batter
over the minimum while needing only 92 pitches to finish the game.
"That's baseball," Rivera said of Brown's bunt single. "If you give
him that side, why not? That's the only bad thing about the shift."
Black said, "He was playing the game. Our defensive metrics showed
we should apply the shift on him. OK, fine."
Cashner (4-7) issued one walk and struck out seven. He also had a
hand in the game's lone run.
Rivera doubled in the second -- one of three hits the Padres had
against Phillies right-hander Jerome Williams (3-2) -- and scored
when Phillies third baseman Cody Asche failed to field Cashner's
sharp, two-out grounder for an error.
Cashner also threw a one-hit shutout against the Detroit Tigers at
Petco Park on April 11. His first shutout came last Sept. 16 in
Pittsburgh when he one-hit the Pirates.
The 28-year-old made his 17th start of the season Monday. He was on
the disabled list May 14-June 7 with pain in his right forearm, and
he was out June 19-Aug. 23 due to right shoulder and neck soreness.
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Cashner has a 2.20 ERA on the season, 1.85 in five starts since his
most recent return from the DL.
"Our guy outpitched their guy," said Black, who also thought Cashner
possessed no-hit stuff.
"There weren't many pitches that he mis-located," Black said of
Cashner. "He pitched. He had the slider, the curve and the change.
He was low in the zone."
Cashner said, "I had better stuff against Detroit, but I did a
better job keeping people off balance tonight. Once I got through
the fourth, I thought I had a chance (at the no-hitter)."
Cashner retired the first 11 Phillies before second baseman Chase
Utley drew a two-out walk in the fourth. Utley was the lone Phillie
who was stranded in the game.
After singling in the fifth, Brown was running on the pitch when
catcher Wil Nieves hit a high pop to the right side. Deked by
shortstop Alexi Amarista into believing Nieves singled to right,
Brown rounded second by the time he realized Nieves hit a pop fly in
the infield. He hustled back to first without retouching second and
was called out on an appeal.
In the eighth, Byrd was thrown out at second trying to advance on
Brown's lineout to right fielder Seth Smith.
Williams allowed one unearned run on three hits in 7 2/3 innings. He
struck out six and walked two.
NOTES: Phillies RHP Jonathan Papelbon was hit with a seven-game
suspension and an undisclosed fine for his actions in Philadelphia
on Sunday. Papelbon was ejected by crew chief Joe West for making an
indecent gesture toward Phillies fans while leaving the mound in the
top of the ninth. Papelbon also apparently bumped West and umpire
Marty Foster. Papelbon started serving his suspension Monday. ...
LHP Robbie Erlin will start in the series finale Thursday as the
Padres push back RHP Tyson Ross to limit his innings. By not
starting Thursday, Ross can make no more than two more starts before
the season ends.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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