SAN DIEGO -- Cuban rookie Odrisamer Despaigne is undefeated in his two starts with the San Diego Padres, a small bright spot in a season that otherwise has gone so wrong. Again using an assortment of breaking pitches and arm angles, the 27-year-old Despaigne outdueled fellow rookie Michael Bolsinger to win his second straight start as the Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1 Sunday to pop out of their one-day stay in last place in the NL West. Cameron Maybin keyed the two-run fourth inning for San Diego, which scored their most runs in four games. "Hes got a nice pulse to him," manager Bud Black said of Despaigne, who defected last summer. "Our heartbeats down. He doesnt get fazed. Working his way through a 2 1/2 hour work day, he is pretty composed and clear-thinking. This guy knows how to pitch." Despaigne (2-0) held Arizona to one run and five hits in 6 2-3 innings, walking four and striking out two. He is the sixth Padres pitcher to win his first two starts, and the seventh San Diego pitcher overall to get a win in his first two appearances. In his big league debut last Monday at San Francisco, he held the Giants to four hits in seven shutout innings, striking out one and walking none in a 1-0 win. Despaigne allowed three of the first four Arizona batters to reach base, but allowed only one run. Leadoff batter Ender Inciarte beat out an infield single and stole second before Paul Goldschmidt walked. Miguel Montero singled in Inciarte before Despaigne got Aaron Hill to fly out to centre and struck out Martin Prado to strand runners on first and third. "He wasnt stressed a great deal last week in San Francisco," Black said. "He was stressed there in the first and hung in there. It was good that he didnt let that second run score. His heartbeats pretty good. He knows his game. He knows what he can do with the ball." Despaigne, who signed a minor league contract with the Padres on May 2, said he felt good in making his first start at Petco Park. "I was excited to pitch here in front of the fans," he said through interpreter Yasmani Grandal, who caught both of his starts. "We had lost two games so I wanted to get that win for us. "I felt good," said Despaigne, who played eight seasons with the Havana Industriales of Cubas Serie Nacional. "My breaking pitches were outside the zone so I had to make adjustments and I got it through." Grandal said he told Despaigne the same thing he did in San Francisco: "Make sure you dont shake me off. He did that the first six innings and at the end he wanted to throw something else. Youve got to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he wants to pitch his own game for an inning, hey, Ill give him that." The right-hander retired the first two batters in the sixth before allowing consecutive singles and making way for Kevin Quackenbush, who struck out pinch-hitter Roger Kieschnick to end the inning. Despaigne got the Diamondbacks to hit into three double plays. "A lot of deception," manager Kirk Gibson said. "We had some opportunities. Hes thrown two games and hes given up one run. Hes doing something right." The Padres scored their most runs in four games. Through 81 games, they had scored one or fewer runs 27 times. They swapped places with the Diamondbacks, who had leapfrogged the Padres into fourth place after winning 3-1 Saturday night. Huston Street pitched the ninth for his 21st save in as many chances. The Padres scored twice in the fourth on two hits, two walks and a sacrifice fly off Bolsinger (1-4). Chase Headley drew a leadoff walk, advanced on Tommy Medicas one-out single to left and scored on Maybins double down the right-field line. Medica scored on Alexi Amaristas sac fly. Bolsinger allowed two runs and three hits in six innings, struck out six and walked four. "Since I have been up here I prided myself on not walking people," Bolsinger said. "Kind of like the San Francisco game, where the one walk I gave up, the run scored. So, I just have to try to eliminate that. Besides that, everything else was pretty good." NOTES: Nick Ahmed was selected from Triple-A Reno before the game and made his big league debut for the Diamondbacks, starting at SS and batting eighth. He grounded into a double play in his first at-bat and got his first big league hit, a single, in the seventh. ... The Padres open a three-game series against Cincinnati on Monday night, when former San Diego ace Mat Latos (1-0, 2.89) is scheduled to start against rookie Jesse Hahn (3-1, 2.38). ... The Diamondbacks are off Monday before opening a three-game series at Pittsburgh on Tuesday, when the scheduled starters are Wade Miley (3-6, 4.78) against Jeff Locker (1-1, 3.74) in a matchup of lefties. . Belfort was originally schedule to fight Chris Weidman at UFC 173 on May 24, but a Nevada State Athletic Commission ban on testosterone replacement therapy forced the former light heavyweight champ to withdraw. . -- Louisville backup quarterback Reggie Bonnafon ran for two touchdowns and passed for another and the No.
http://www.sabresauthority.com/. Especially after he got ejected. "How many innings was that?" he wondered. . Dallas (2-0-1) sits atop the Western Conference with an MLS-best seven points. Castillo opened the scoring in the 71st minute off a Mauro Diaz set piece, and Watson outran defender Tony Lochhead on a long ball and then juked goalkeeper Ian Kennedy for the eventual game-winner in the 78th minute. . Louis Blues have returned to the top spot in the TSN.WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - John Isner shook off a slow start to beat fellow American Bradley Klahn 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 on Tuesday in the second round of the Winston-Salem Open. Isner, the tournaments top seed and two-time winner, served 13 aces — one clocked at 138 mph — and broke Klahns serve twice in the second set to improve to 11-0 all-time in the final tuneup before next weeks U.S. Open. Three of the top six seeds were eliminated in the second round at the Wake Forest Tennis Center. Third-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain lost to Frances Nicolas Mahut 6-1, 7-6 (7-0); fourth-seeded Leonardo Mayer of Argentina was upset by Belgian qualifier David Goffin 6-3, 6-1; while Polands Jerzy Janowicz stunned No. 6 seed Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5). However, No. 2 seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa overcame a shaky second set to beat Frances Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. The 6-foot-8 Anderson, ranked 20th in the world, served 16 aces and almost as many service winners. Mannarino used his ground game to force Anderson into 24 errors in the second set, breaking his serve twice en route to taking the set and evening the match at 1-all. But Anderson got a key service break in the seveenth game of the third set, and closed out the match with two aces and a service winner in the deciding game.dddddddddddd Robredo, the tournaments third seed, had his serve broken three times in the first set by the 104th-ranked Mahut, who then took four mini-breaks from Robredo in winning the second-set tiebreaker. "I knew he was in for a tough week after Cincinnati," Mahut said of Robredo, who had upset world No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia in advancing to the quarterfinals of last weeks Western and Southern Open. "I knew if I had a good start, it would be difficult for him. The second set was tougher, but it was still a good finish. I had to play more aggressive in the tiebreak, but it was still good." Goffin, who won his first ATP Tour event last month in Kitzbuhel, Austria, extended his winning streak to 24 matches. That includes ATP Challenger Tour event wins in the Netherlands, Poland and Finland. Also advancing were Americans Sam Querry and Donald Young, Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, Italys Andreas Seppi, Spains Marcel Granollers, Kazakhstans Mikhail Kukushkin, Taiwans Yen-Hsun Lu, Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic, and Spains Pablo Andujar. ' ' '
