Padres Complete Successful Season With Exciting Comeback Win.

In a microcosm of their season, the Padres fell behind the Brewers by six runs only to score seven unanswered to win their final game of 2012 7-6. Though they already lost the series with two close losses on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday’s win gave the Padres plenty of reason to celebrate. Two days after being named National League Player of the Month, Chase Headley knocked in two runs to win the NL RBI title. Everth Cabrera also stole his 44th base of the year to become the first Padre to lead the league in steals. Yonder Alonso also took top honors amongst rookies in hits (150) and doubles (39). With a young loaded lineup to go along with healthy starting pitching, the Padres look like a force to be reckoned with in 2013 and hopefully many years to come. Below is a recap of their final series of the season. Following this team has truly been a pleasure and I hope to see you all again next year. Go Padres! Monday, October 1st, 2012 Brewers 5, Padres 3 WP Shawn Marcum (7-4) 6IP 6H 2R 2ER 4BB 2K 1HR LP Clayton Richard (14-14) 7IP 10H 5R 5ER 0BB 3K 3HR S John Axeford (34) 1IP 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 3K 0HR Clayton Richard hit his first career major league home run to tie the game in the third, but he gave three more after that as he lost his final start of the year to the Brewers, 5-3. Aramis Ramirez gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead in the first with a two out single, scoring Ryan Braun from second. Richard then hit a solo shot two innings later off Shawn Marcum to tie the game at one. Richard then gave up home runs to the Brewers in consecutive innings in the fourth and fifth. Carlos Gomez hit a solo shot in the fourth, followed by a two run mammoth shot by Rickie Weeks to put the Brewers up 4-1. The Padres cut the lead to two in the top of the sixth with when Jesus Guzman blooped a soft fly ball to center to score Will Venable. But Richard gave up another round tripper in the bottom half of the inning to Jonathon Lucroy to push the lead back to three. Yasmani Grandal singled in the seventh to left field of reliever Jim Henderson to score Everth Cabrera who stole second after leading off with a base hit, cutting the score to 5-3. Cabrera’s 43rd stolen base of the year extended his National League lead. The Padres got the tying run to the plate in the form of Chase Headley with two outs in the ninth with Andy Parrino on base. John Axeford struck out the National League player of the month for his 34th save of the year to preserve the Brewers 5-3 win.   Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012 Brewers 4, Padres 3 WP Jim Henderson (1-2) 0.2IP 1IP 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 2K 0HR LP Anthony Bass (2-8) 3IP 3H 4R 4ER 3BB 3K 1HR S John Axeford (35) 1IP 2H 0R 0ER 0BB 2K 0HR Anthony Bass made his first start after a few brief appearances in relief since coming off the disabled list and did not fare well, lasting only three innings after surrendering four runs on one swing en route to his eighth loss of the year. After striking out Logan Schaeffer in the third for the second out with a runner on second, Bass walked Ryan Braun and Travis Ishikawa to load the bases. Catcher Martin Maldonado then launched a grand slam deep into the left field bleachers to give the Brewers a 4-0 lead. The Padres started chipping away in the top of the fourth starting with a single by Chase Headley. After advancing to second on a groundout by Yonder Alonso, he tagged up and advanced to third on a flyout by Mark Kotsay. Will Venable then hit a low line drive into center to score Headley and put the Padres on the board, down 4-1. Jesus Guzman singled with two on in the sixth to knock in Headley. After Alonso was thrown out at home on a single by Denorfia, pinch hitter Yasmani Grandal then smoked a grounder past third baseman Taylor Green to score Guzman and cut the lead to 4-3. After going hitless in the eighth and the ninth, Andy Parrino and Everth Cabrera hit a couple of two-out singles to bring up Logan Forsythe. They would both be left stranded though as John Axeford would induce a groundout to second to record his 34th save of the year.   Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012 Padres 7, Brewers 6 WP Tommy Layne (2-0) 1.1IP 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 1K 0HR LP Jim Henderson (1-3) 1IP 1H 2R 2ER 1BB 1K 0HR S Luke Gregerson (9) 1IP 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 2K 0HR After falling behind by six runs, the Padres came all the way back to take the lead in the seventh and held on to win their final game of the year, 7-6. Andrew Werner was shaky at best, giving up six runs in –less than three innings yet escaping with a no-decision. Chase Headley led Ryan Braun by one RBI for the National league lead when the Brewers slugger came up to the plate with a man on and one out in the first. Braun drove a tailing line drive to right center was looked to be a sure double before Cameron Maybin mad a full-extension diving backhand catch to rob the Brewers’ left fielder of extra bases. But Aramis Ramirez singled to score Rickie Weeks and give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. The Brewers scored another in the second on a groundout to short by Travis Ishikawa. Jonathon Lucroy doubled the next inning to make it 3-0. Werner then loaded the bases which were then promptly cleared by a double by Ishikawa, putting Milwaukee up 6-0 in the third. Chris Denorfia hit his eighth home run of the year to break up the shutout with a solo shot in the fourth. The next inning, Everth Cabrera stole his 44th base of the year with runners on first and third. The throw got away from shortstop Jean Segura, allowing Alexi Amarista to come home for the Padres second run. Chase Headley then hammered a home run just inside the right field foul pole to cut the lead to 6-4. But the umpires reviewed the play and determined it just a long strike as replay showed the ball was just foul. Headley then smashed a line-drive to left passed a lunging Braun that bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double, scoring Cabrera. The next inning Cameron Maybin hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 6-5 in the sixth. Headley then added another when he tripled in Will Venable in the seventh to tie the game. The RBI was Headley’s 115th of the year, good for the NL lead. Yasmani Grandal then struck out with Headley on third for the first out. But Yonder Alonso hit a fly ball to center fielder Carlos Gomez with Headley tagging. Gomez caught the ball and threw a one-hop strike to home, but Headley slid under the tag to put the Padres up 7-6. Alonso doubled earlier in the game for the 39th time, leading all rookies. It was also his 150th hit of the year, tops among first year players as well. The Padres would hold them for the remainder of the game, highlighted with Luke Gregerson’s two-strikeout ninth to give them their 76th win of the year by the score 7-6.