St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) - Mat Latos threw seven scoreless innings as San Diego clipped Tampa Bay, 2-1, in the opener of a three-game interleague series at Tropicana Field.
Mat Latos Terrific Again As Padres Down Rays On Road
Chase Headley and Will Venable each had an RBI for the Padres, who have won three of four.
Latos (8-4) scattered three hits over his outing, fanning eight and walking only one to record his third straight victory. He's won seven of his last eight decisions. Heath Bell recorded the final four outs for his 18th save.
Wade Davis (5-8) lost for the fourth consecutive outing, charged with four hits and two runs with five walks over just 4 1/3 frames.
San Diego loaded the bases in the first to no avail, but picked up two runs in the third. With runners on the corners and two out, Headley's dribbler to short plated the Padres' first run. After a walk to Scott Hairston which loaded the sacks, Venable was hit by Davis to force in the second run.
Tampa Bay squandered a chance in the fourth with two runners on, then the visitors chased Davis in the fifth shortly after a leadoff double from Adrian Gonzalez. After a Nick Hundley groundout, Andy Sonnanstine took over for Davis and prevented further damage by retiring the next two batters.
The Rays finally hit the scoreboard in the eighth, touching up Mike Adams on a Jason Bartlett double followed by Jaso's run-scoring single. Jaso was ruled out when Carl Crawford's grounder hit him on the leg, but after Crawford swiped second, Evan Longoria struck out against Bell to keep it a one-run game.
Carlos Pena worked a leadoff walk in the ninth, but his pinch-runner, Sean Rodriguez, was thrown out trying to steal with one down. Bell then fanned B.J. Upton swinging to end the game.
San Diego has won three of the last four meetings between the clubs dating back to their last series in 2007...Padres catcher Yorvit Torrealba has dropped the appeal of his three-game suspension and began serving it Tuesday. He was disciplined for making contact with an umpire on June 14...In other Padres news, the team recalled catcher Dusty Ryan from Triple-A Portland and optioned infielder Lance Zawadzki to the same club.
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