Young near perfect as Padres thump Brewers

Todd D. Milewski  —  9/07/2008 6:08 pm

MILWAUKEE -- Chris Young shook off San Diego Padres catcher Nick Hundley's sign for a slider on the second pitch to Gabe Kapler in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday.

"I've learned my lesson," Young said.

It goes something like this: Don't shake off your catcher when you're four outs away from a perfect game.

Kapler smoked a fastball into the left field seats, ending Young's bid at perfection.

The game was long since decided by that point -- Kapler's home run cut the Padres' lead to the eventual final, 10-1 -- so the 6-foot-10 Young was the main attraction for those of the 44,568 at Miller Park who stayed around for the chance to see a rarity.

And it would have provided quite a dramatic turnaround in a doubly painful season for Young.

He was hit in the face by an Albert Pujols line drive on May 21 and later had surgery to repair a resulting nasal fracture and to relieve pressure around his nasal passages. Three starts after coming off the disabled list, he went right back on with a strained forearm.

The Padres, who played in a National League wild card playoff game last season, have slipped to the worst record in baseball this year.

That's why it would have been remarkable for Young to throw the 18th perfect game in major-league history on a sunny Milwaukee Sunday. Still, he had a deep appreciation for what he did under the circumstances.

"It's been a long road for me," Young said. "It's been a lot of time sitting out, watching. It's been hard, especially the way the season has gone for us as a team. But I couldn't sit out and bitch about it or whine about it. I had to keep working hard and do my best to get back out there. It's gratifying to be back out there and have a game like today."

Young, who improved to 5-5 with a 4.48 ERA on the season, retired the first 23 batters he faced before Kapler came up with two outs in the eighth. He started the right-handed hitter with a fastball that missed the outside corner.

Hundley then called for a slider, but Young said he wanted to be aggressive and not take the chance of falling behind 2-0. The 85-mph fastball he threw to Kapler was meant to be toward the outside part of the plate, but it tailed back over.

"I came after him with a heater, and he hit it out," Young said. "He's a good hitter."

Young allowed a one-out, pinch-hit double to Mat Gamel -- the rookie's first major-league hit -- in the ninth to make it a two-hitter, but the 29-year-old pitcher got the final two outs for his first career complete game.

In a 95-pitch outing, Young recorded 17 fly balls, five ground balls and five strikeouts.

"That's a very efficient game," Padres manager Bud Black said. "And that's a key, too, because he was able to hold his stuff. He was in and out of the dugout quickly. We had a couple of long innings, obviously. But when you're not out there very long and you're throwing strikes, momentum builds for you. We talk a lot about pitching momentum, and Chris had it."

He had a lead from the third inning on after the Padres put up five unearned runs against Brewers starter Manny Parra. The first two runs scored on an error by third baseman Bill Hall, who had Kevin Kouzmanoff's grounder go off his hand and into foul territory as he was running to tag the base for what could have been the start of an inning-ending double play.

As Young kept the Brewers off-balance at the plate with a mix of sliders, change-ups and fastballs -- his "bread and butter" pitch, he said -- the Padres pounded the Brewers' pitching.

Parra allowed six runs (one earned) on six hits in five innings. David Riske was tagged for four earned runs on four hits in an inning of work. All told, the Padres racked up 14 hits.

Kapler again prevented the Padres from celebrating on the Miller Park infield -- they could have clinched a playoff spot by winning either of the final two games here last regular season -- but that was the extent of the joy for the Brewers.

"We'd prefer to not have them celebrate something like a no-hitter or a perfect game -- any team, for that matter -- on our field," Kapler said. "It's gratifying that that didn't happen. That said, it wasn't a good game. We didn't play well. We didn't play good defense. We didn't swing the bats well, and we didn't pitch. There's not much good to talk about today."

Young will have plenty of good to talk about -- not as much as he could have, mind you, but still a pretty impressive outing. He even had a double, a run scored and an RBI sacrifice fly at the plate.

When he left the mound after catching Bill Hall's line drive to end the eighth inning, he heard and saw a standing ovation from Brewers fans.

"It gave me chills walking off the field after the eighth inning, and when I came up to bat again in the ninth inning," Young said. "It was pretty cool to get that. It shows what great fans they have here in Milwaukee."

Todd D. Milewski  —  9/07/2008 6:08 pm