Padres Continue to Enjoy May Days

The San Diego Padres have been nothing short of spectacular in May.

If 11 wins so far this month wasn’t impressive enough, hanging 10 runs on the Florida Marlins in the seventh inning on Sunday certainly was.

“To put up double digits in one inning is awesome,” Mark Loretta said after the Padres rallied to beat the Marlins, 12-4, and sweep a three-game series at San Diego. “It was a great comeback.”

The Padres packed more than a game’s worth of offense into the seventh, when they rallied from a 4-1 deficit behind Dave Roberts’ three-run homer and Brian Giles’ two-run single.

The Padres sent 13 batters to the plate against starter A.J. Burnett -- who no-hit them four years ago -- and two relievers. The first eight batters reached base and they scored six runs before the Marlins got an out.

San Diego had six hits, drew three walks -- two with the bases loaded -- and benefited from a throwing error by first baseman Carlos Delgado. Only five of the runs were earned.

Roberts, pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney and Khalil Greene all batted twice and scored twice in the seventh. The Padres have lost only three times in 14 games this month and are in second place in the NL West, one-half game behind Arizona.

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Arizona 5, Colorado 4 -- Craig Counsell hit his first homer since July and Brian Bruney converted a rare save opportunity at Denver as the Diamondbacks took over sole possession of first place in the West.

Counsell hit a 3-and-2 pitch from Jason Jennings (1-5) over the wall in right-center field with one out in the seventh for a 4-3 lead. Alex Cintron had an RBI double, one of his two hits, to make it 5-3 in the eighth.

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Houston 9, San Francisco 0 -- Morgan Ensberg hit three home runs and Brandon Backe pitched a four-hitter at Houston for the first shutout of his career. Ensberg hit a three-run homer in the first inning off Jeff Fassero, a solo homer off Jeremy Accardo in the fifth and another solo shot in the seventh off Jason Christiansen.

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Philadelphia 4, Cincinnati 3 -- Vicente Padilla pitched six scoreless innings for his first win of the season and was backed by solo homers from Chase Utley and Bobby Abreu at Philadelphia.

Padilla (1-4) tossed four-hit ball in his longest outing of the season to earn his first win since Sept. 29.

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Pittsburgh 4, Milwaukee 2 -- Daryle Ward homered and drove in two runs at Pittsburgh. The Pirates are 9-3 in their last 12 games.

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Washington 5, Chicago 4 -- Cub second baseman Neifi Perez’s two errors helped the Nationals score the go-ahead run in the sixth, and Nick Johnson hit a two-run homer to lead the Nationals at Washington.

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St. Louis 4, New York 2 -- Matt Morris pitched effectively into the eighth inning, and John Mabry homered and drove in three runs at New York.