Caminiti Helps Padres Beat Cubs

Can the San Diego Padres play .800 baseball the rest of the season?

“I don’t know--we’re having a good run,” Padre Manager Bruce Bochy said.

“I hope so. It’s been fun,” Tony Gwynn said.

Andy Ashby pitched eight scoreless innings and Ken Caminiti homered as the Padres defeated the Chicago Cubs, 4-1, Thursday.

The Padres, whose 16-4 record is the best in the majors, remained unbeaten in seven series this season.

“By no means are we going to get too high. By no means are we thinking we’re the best team,” Ashby said. “We’ve just got to go out and keep playing.”

That’s Caminiti’s motto.

Despite severe pain whenever he throws because of a back strain that forced him to miss one game, Caminiti keeps trotting out to third base.

“He’s got the highest pain threshold of anyone I know,” Bochy said. “There are days when you question whether you should put him in the lineup and he goes out and has a great game.”

The Cubs have struggled against the Padres’ pitchers.

“We’ve had a couple lackluster efforts on offense the last couple games,” Chicago’s Mark Grace said. “We’ve got to pick it up and when it happens, it’s going to be fun. Nobody likes losing when you score one, two runs.”

Ashby (3-1) gave up seven hits, struck out four and walked one. He has pitched at least six innings and given up no more than three earned runs in each of his five starts.

Dan Miceli relieved to start the ninth, and Sammy Sosa led off with his fourth home run. After Grace followed with a single, Trevor Hoffman took over for his sixth save.

Mark Clark (2-2) lost for only the third time in 14 starts since joining the Cubs late last season. He gave up three runs and nine hits in seven innings.

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NEST SERIES FOR DODGERS:

WHO: Chicago Cubs

WHERE: Dodger Stadium

WHEN: Tonight, 7; Saturday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m.