Padres’ Ashby Completely Dominates Opponent Again

Until Andy Ashby shut down the Houston Astros on Thursday, it had been 10 years since a San Diego Padre pitcher threw three consecutive complete games.

Ashby became the first big leaguer to perform the feat this year, using his split-fingered fastball with more authority to throw an eight-hitter as the Padres defeated the Houston Astros, 5-1, at San Diego.

“It’s gotten to the point now when Ash takes the mound we have a real clear idea of what he’s going to do,” said Dave Stewart, San Diego’s first-year pitching coach. “I wasn’t surprised. I was expecting it.”

Backed by Greg Vaughn’s two-run homer--his 20th--Ashby (7-4) restored control after Padres pitchers walked 17 Astros in losing the previous two games.

“Whether you go six, seven or nine [innings], you have to stay locked in through the whole game and try to stay away from the big inning,” Ashby said.

The right-hander came close to a shutout but left a fastball up that Moises Alou hit for his 12th homer leading off the ninth. Ashby then walked Dave Clark, but got former Padre infielder Ricky Gutierrez to pop up and another former teammate, Brad Ausmus, to ground into a double play.

“The main thing is not let it snowball into a big inning,” Ashby said. “Something that I’ve done early in my career is get mad and try to get it over with too quick and the next thing you know, the bases are loaded with no outs.”

Until Alou’s homer, the Astros failed to get a runner to second base after the second inning. Ashby matched his season-high with eight strikeouts and walked four in his fourth complete game this year. He also drove in a run with a bases-loaded squeeze in the seventh.

Ashby tinkered with a split-finger fastball last year but didn’t refine it until he worked with Stewart in spring training.

“His sinker is so devastating that from time to time I don’t know the sinker from the forkball, to be honest,” Stewart said. “He was nasty today.”

The Padres avoided their first series sweep and kept from dropping into a first-place tie with San Francisco in the NL West. San Diego has had sole possession of the division lead since April 8, but the two losses in a row to the Astros trimmed their lead to just half a game. San Francisco was idle Thursday.