Order your Los Angeles Dodgers Tickets today Padres 9, Dodgers 1
SAN DIEGO - Mike Cameron needed just a single to join some elite company. A 3-0 pitch in the seventh inning looked good, but baseball etiquette dictated that he let it go by.
"You can't swing 3-0 when you're up by eight runs or whatever. It's a good way to get yourself hurt the next day," Cameron said.
Translation: becoming the first Padres player to hit for the cycle wasn't worth the risk of taking a pitch in the ribs the next game.
Cameron had three hits, including a three-run homer, but missed hitting for the cycle by a single as he led the San Diego Padres to a 9-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. Chan Ho Park dominated his old team for six innings.
"It would have been nice, man - I don't think too many guys have hit four home runs in a game and hit for the cycle," said Cameron, who hit four homers on May 2, 2002, while with the Seattle Mariners.
The only players to have a four-homer game and hit for the cycle were Lou Gehrig, Gil Hodges and Chuck Klein.
"Probably the hardest thing is getting the triple," Cameron said. "I've done it where I couldn't get the triple before, a couple of times."
Cameron hit a three-run shot to left off reliever Jae Seo with one out in the fifth to give the Padres an 8-1 lead. Rookie Josh Barfield was aboard with a leadoff double and Dave Roberts was on with a one-out walk. It was Cameron's third.
Cameron bounced a double in front of the fence in right-center in the second and tripled off the center-field fence in the fourth.
When Cameron came to bat with one out in the seventh needing a single for the cycle, many in the crowd of 30,371 stood and cheered. They booed after Odalis Perez ran the count to 3-0. After taking the fourth pitch for a strike, Cameron walked and the crowd booed again.
"I was definitely looking to hit 3-1, but he didn't throw me any strikes," Cameron said.
After 5,933 games in 38 seasons, the Padres still haven't had a player hit for the cycle.
"I know it would have been special, but hopefully the opportunity rolls around again," Cameron said.
"That's an exciting at-bat," manager Bruce Bochy said. "We were all pulling for him, and the fans got into it to. That was neat to see how they got behind him and knew what was going on there. He just couldn't get a pitch there, and he's going to take 3-0. But what a game he had."
The Padres won for just the third time in eight games. The Dodgers came in with sole possession of the NL West lead, but dropped into a tie with Arizona, which beat San Francisco.
Eric Young hit his first career pinch homer with one out in the seventh while batting for Park. It was his first this year.
Read more at Mercury News
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