Padres 9, Dodgers 3
Will Venable homered and drove in four runs as San Diego pulled away late in its home opener at remodeled Petco Park.
With the score tied 3-3 in the seventh, Mark Kotsay doubled in the go-ahead run off Ronald Belisario before the Padres drew clear with five runs in the eighth. Venable highlighted the rally with a bases-loaded triple off J.P. Howell.
Venable and Nick Hundley each hit solo homers off Dodgers starter Josh Beckett, who gave up three runs over five innings. Luke Gregerson (1-0) recorded one out in the seventh for the win.
The Padres entered the game at 1-5 after hitting one home run and being outscored 40-14 during the first week, but they had 11 hits against the Dodgers. San Diego starter Clayton Richard allowed eight hits over five innings,
with his only mistake coming on a two-run homer by Jose Uribe in the
fourth.
San Diego sent 11 batters to the plate in the eighth inning, when three Dodgers relievers allowed five walks, two singles and a triple. Padres rookie second baseman Jedd Gyorko walked twice in the inning.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Padres LF Carlos Quentin left the game in the seventh inning after being hit on the right wrist by Belisario. … San Diego improved to 7-3 in home openers at Petco Park, which had its fences shortened by an average of 10 feet over the off-season. …Los Angeles 1B Adrian Gonzalez went 2-for-3 and is batting .435 with six RBIs.