CBSSports.com/Associated Press (AP)
The San Francisco Giants turned a triple play in a key late-game situation, and then it was all for naught.
Keiichi Yabu got San Diego's Kevin Kouzmanoff to ground into a triple play on his only pitch in the eighth inning but Khalil Greene drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the go-ahead run in the 13th, leading the Padres to a 7-3 victory over the Giants.
"So many good things happened tonight," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "That's a tough one to lose."
Billy Sadler (0-1) gave up a one-out walk to Tadahito Iguchi and Brian Giles' double put runners on second and third in the 13th. After intentionally walking Adrian Gonzalez and retiring Kouzmanoff, Greene walked with the bases loaded for the first time in two years to score Iguchi.
Sadler (0-1) hit Michael Barrett with a pitch to force in another run, and Vinnie Chulk surrendered pinch-hitter Justin Huber's two-run single to make it 7-3.
Cha Seung Baek (1-0) struck out the side in the 12th, and Trevor Hoffman finished in the non-save situation.
Yabu entered the game in the eighth with runners on first and second and got Kouzmanoff to hit the first pitch for the Giants' first triple play since June 14, 1999.
"I was thinking groundball and double play, then we turned the triple play," Yabu said. "Unbelievable. I had never seen one. We usually see triple plays where they catch a line drive. It's the first time I saw a groundball triple play."
Third baseman Jose Castillo fielded the hard grounder near the bag and retired Giles on the forceout, then relayed to second baseman Ray Durham to get Gonzalez. Durham then fired the ball to first baseman John Bowker for the third out.
"When he hit it, I was thinking he would touch third and throw to second," Bowker said. "As he threw to second, I said, 'Wait a minute, I think there's time to throw to first. We got him by a half step."
The crowd of 37,178 jumped to its feet for a long ovation. The Padres hit into their first triple play since May 5, 2005, versus St. Louis.
"I hit it hard right at him," said Kouzmanoff, who wasn't surprised to see the play turned. "It's definitely something I don't want to be a part of but that's the way it goes."
The Giants hadn't turned a triple play at home since Oct. 3, 1980, against San Diego at Candlestick Park. This was the first one for San Francisco at its nine-year-old waterfront ballpark and the sixth total in the city by either team -- four at Candlestick and one at Seals Stadium. The Giants have turned seven triple plays since moving West in 1958.
Yabu struck out one in three perfect innings and became the second Japanese pitcher to take part in a triple play along with Hideo Nomo in 1996 -- to which Yabu said, "Oh really? No. 2? That's good."
"When it was hit, I thought no but then I saw the quickness to the bag and then I saw the first relay and I thought, 'Yeah, it could happen,"' Padres manager Bud Black said. "When the ball was in flight to second I thought it could happen. Didn't want it to. It was bang-bang."
Greg Maddux and Matt Cain faced off for the third time already this season and sixth time overall. Maddux struck out five to stretch his unbeaten run against San Francisco to more than five years and Iguchi hit a two-run triple in the third for the Padres, who have won four of five.
This marked the sixth extra-innings game for San Diego, which has played 22 innings, 18 innings, three 13-inning contests and 11 innings. The Padres have won their last three.
Iguchi's second triple of the year in the third inning took a crazy bounce off the brick facade in right-center, then Gonzalez followed with a double to put the Padres up 3-1.
Bowker hit a tying RBI single in the seventh that made it 3-3. Randy Winn hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning to give the Giants a quick lead, then Aaron Rowand singled in a run in the fourth. San Francisco lost a tough one after sweeping Arizona in Phoenix.
Maddux has three straight no-decisions and is winless in four starts since beating Colorado on May 10. He allowed two runs and five hits in six innings and didn't surrender a walk for the fifth time in his 12 starts this year.
Mad Dog hasn't lost to the Giants in 12 starts since a defeat on May 9, 2003. He also won his 300th game in San Francisco on Aug. 7, 2004.
Cain's winless stretch against the Padres reached nine starts, with him going 0-4 during that span.
Cain stopped a scary line drive by Giles just above his groin area. Assistant athletic trainer Mark Gruesbeck and manager Bruce Bochy hustled to the mound to check on Cain, who threw a few pitches and stayed in the game. He still made an out on the play.
Notes
Padres ace Jake Peavy, last year's NL Cy Young Award winner who is on the DL with a swollen right elbow, played long toss and the team is hopeful he can throw off a mound Sunday. By next week, he could have a simulated game or head out for a rehab outing.
Giants INF Rich Aurilia was sidelined for the second straight day still waiting to pass a kidney stone.
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