NEW YORK – With Brian Lawrence starting last night, it was almost predestined that the Padres would lose.
The only questions were how long it would take and who would be the ultimate victim.
The answers were 11 innings and Chris Hammond.
Chris Woodward hit what he claimed was the first pinch-hit homer of his life off Hammond with one out in the second extra inning to give the Mets a 3-1 victory over the Padres in unreasonably hot and humid weather at Shea Stadium.
Wasted was another strong outing by Lawrence, who allowed one run – a Cliff Floyd homer – on five hits over 6 1/3 innings.
When Khalil Greene homered off Kris Benson leading off the fifth, it ended a streak of 27 scoreless innings for the Padres in games that Lawrence had started – including the first 1-0 game played at Coors Field in Denver, on July 9.
The Padres are 2-7 over Lawrence's last nine starts, although the pitcher has a 2.79 ERA during the run. He even failed to get a decision when he shut out Cleveland on five hits over eight innings on June 7 at the start of his streak.
JULIE JACOBSON / Associated Press
Dave Roberts leaps into a car ad to rob Mike Cameron in the fourth - one of three circus catches by the Padres center fielder.
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"This is extremely frustrating," right fielder Brian Giles said of Lawrence's plight. "He could be having a great year. He should be having a great year. But offensively we haven't done anything to help him out. And I know he's not the type to be pointing fingers. But we haven't lived up to our side of the bargain."
"You can't control that," manager Bruce Bochy said of Lawrence's almost total lack of run support – two over his past four starts. "He did give us another great start today."
Certainly, Lawrence is frustrated.
"I can't remember ever pitching this well with a losing record," he said, although he walked away with a no-decision rather than a fourth straight loss. "It's frustrating for me, it's frustrating for everyone.
"I just have to continue to throw the way I am throwing. I can't let it bother me. I just can't. If I pitch well, we'll be fine. We can't complain about how it turns out when we played our hardest, which we did tonight."
Certainly, that was the case for center fielder Dave Roberts.
Lawrence retired the first 12 hitters he faced largely because Roberts three times raced into deep left-center to run down drives by Floyd in the second and Mike Cameron and Carlos Beltran on consecutive plays in the fourth.
"I've never had three catches like that in a game," said Roberts. "It's funny because on the plane ride here yesterday I told B-Law that I loved playing center at Shea because the outfield is so big. I joked that he should have them hit me some balls."
Floyd stopped Lawrence's Roberts-aided stab at perfection by leading off the fifth with a 425-foot drive off a two-seam fastball that hovered over the middle of the plate.
Reuters
Padres starter Brian Lawrence looks elsewhere as Cliff Floyd circles the bases after his fifth-inning homer -- the only damage done off Lawrence. Pinch-hitter Chris Woodward hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning, giving the Mets a 3-1 victory over the Padres on Tuesday night.
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"To have everything there and working and make one real bad pitch," said Lawrence.
But Lawrence and the Padres met their match in Mets starter Benson, who also served up a solo homer among the five hits he allowed. The only difference was that Lawrence didn't allow a walk while Benson walked four – giving the Padres the appearance of having more scoring chances.
Aside from Greene's homer, however, the Padres never had a runner in scoring position with fewer than two outs.
"We needed a big hit and didn't get it," said Bochy, whose team went the final 3 1/3 innings without putting a runner on base against the Mets bullpen.
Meantime, Padres relievers Scott Linebrink, Aki Otsuka and Hammond worked their way out of jams before Hammond lost it in the 11th.
With one out, Mike Piazza singled, bringing up pinch-hitter Woodward, who drove a one-strike cut fastball into the seats in left.
Hammond has been dazzling rivals with his mystifying change-up. But pitchers cannot live on a single weapon. Hammond has given up four homers in his past five outings – three on cut fastballs.
Bill Center: (619) 293-1851; bill.center@uniontrib.com
