PEAVY LOSES PERFECTO, RETAINS WIN
Newly Acquired Hillenbrand Hits 1st AZ HR

SAN DIEGO, June 1 (AP) - Jake Peavy took a perfect game into the eighth inning and settled for his fifth victory of the year as the San Diego Padres held off the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-2, at Qualcomm Stadium.  Peavy had retired the first 21 Arizona batters he faced when Luis Gonzalez lined a clean single into left field to spoil the bid for immortality. 

Only two big league pitchers have advanced a perfect game this season farther than Peavy.  Jamie Moyer of the Seattle Mariners set down the first 25 Texas Rangers he faced on April 13 at Safeco Field before yielding Mark Teixeira's home run and Tim Redding of the Houston Astros had his attempt ruined two outs into the eighth inning at Minute Maid Park on May 24 when Ramon Martinez singled.

The pressure was on Peavy (5-3) in this one until the seventh.  The Padres pushed a single run across against Diamondbacks starter Edgar Gonzalez, who was making his season debut, in the second inning when Sean Burroughs drew a lead-off walk and scored on Xavier Nady's double to right. 

But Gonzalez held the Padres scoreless from that point until the seventh when San Diego broke open the game, giving Peavy a cushion.  With one out, Lou Merloni singled to center and Miguel Ojeda followed with a double to the wall in right-center field, scoring Merloni all the way from first base.  Peavy then aided his own cause by lining a double over the head of shortstop Alex Cintron, scoring Ojeda to increase the San Diego lead to 3-0.  Gary Matthews, Jr. followed with a double into the left field corner, advancing Peavy to third and chasing Gonzalez from the game.  He was replaced on the mound by Scott Service who immediately yielded a run-scoring single to Mark Loretta, giving the Padres a 5-0 advantage.

Peavy faced Gonzalez to open the eighth, worked ahead 1-2, and then tried to put him away with a fastball but Gonzalez sprayed the pitch between Merloni and Burroughs into left field for the first Arizona hit.  Peavy was given a standing ovation by the Qualcomm crowd but then yielded a home run into the left field seats to newly acquired Shea Hillenbrand to cut the Padres lead to 3-2.  Peavy regrouped at that point and retired the next three Diamondbacks in order, two of them on strikes, giving him eight punch outs on the afternoon.

The Padres failed to score in the eighth and Matt Herges came on to close out Arizona in the ninth.  It took him only eight pitches to do so; he retired pinch hitter Steve Finley and David Dellucci on infield pop ups and Cintron on a routine fly ball to right.

The victory is the fourth straight for San Diego.

6/1/2003, Ari03-SD03, Qualcomm Stadium
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
2003 Diamondbacks      0  0  0  0  0  0  0  2  0     2  2  0     0  0
2003 Padres            0  1  0  0  0  0  4  0  x     5 10  0     5  0
 
Diamondbacks         AB  R  H BI   AVG    Padres               AB  R  H BI   AVG
Dellucci          cf  4  0  0  0  .239    Matthews,G        cf  4  1  1  0  .170
Cintron           ss  4  0  0  0  .222    Loretta           2b  4  0  2  2  .299
Bautista          rf  3  0  0  0  .309    White,Ro          lf  4  0  1  0  .302
Gonzalez,L        lf  3  1  1  0  .274    Klesko            1b  4  0  0  0  .245
Hillenbrand       3b  3  1  1  2  .308    Burroughs         3b  3  1  0  0  .286
Grace             1b  3  0  0  0  .197    Nady              rf  4  0  2  1  .288
Baerga            2b  3  0  0  0  .343     Herges           p   0  0  0  0  .000
Barajas           c   3  0  0  0  .205    Merloni           ss  4  1  1  0  .250
Gonzalez,E        p   2  0  0  0  .000    Ojeda,M           c   3  1  1  1  .238
 Service          p   0  0  0  0  .000    Peavy             p   3  1  2  1  .154
 Finley           ph  1  0  0  0  .206     Buchanan         rf  0  0  0  0  .351
                     29  2  2  2                               33  5 10  5
 
Diamondbacks                     INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Gonzalez,E       L 0-1           6.1  9  5  5  1  6  94  65  7.11
Service                          1.2  1  0  0  0  4  36  23  2.93
                                 8.0 10  5  5  1 10 130  88
 
Padres                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Peavy            W 5-3           8.0  2  2  2  0  8 100  61  2.90
Herges           S 4             1.0  0  0  0  0  0   8   5  4.44
                                 9.0  2  2  2  0  8 108  66
 
Ari: Finley batted for Service in the 9th
SD : Buchanan inserted at rf in the 9th
 
2B-Matthews,G(17), Nady(13), Ojeda,M(2). HR-Hillenbrand(2).
RBI-Hillenbrand 2(32), Loretta 2(15), Nady(31), Ojeda,M(3), Peavy(5).
K-Dellucci 2, Gonzalez,L, Grace, Baerga, Barajas 3, Matthews,G 2, White,Ro,
Klesko 3, Burroughs, Nady, Merloni 2. BB-Burroughs.
GWRBI: Nady
Temperature: 76, Sky: cloudy, Wind: right to left at 7 MPH.
Attendance: 27,140
Game Time: 2:25