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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
SAN DIEGO (AP) – Curt Schilling said he was shocked. Bob Brenly
responded with a profanity. Mark Grace said he wouldn't have the
guts to do it.
|  | | Curt Schilling looks toward first after Ben Davis' bunt single ended his perfect-game bid. |
The debate centered on whether San Diego's Ben Davis should have
bunted for a hit when Curt Schilling was just five outs shy of a
perfect game.
Schilling finished with a three-hitter that led the Arizona
Diamondbacks over the Padres 3-1 Saturday night.
"I was a little stunned by it," Schilling said. "I wasn't
expecting it. I didn't think it was that bad of a pitch. It caught
me off guard more than anything.
Schilling (8-1), the majors' first eight-game winner, was trying
for what would have been the 15th perfect game in modern history.
He had to settle for his third complete game this season.
Schilling threw a high curveball in the eighth to start off the
switch-hitting Davis, who was batting lefty and blooped a bunt past
the mound between first and second. Second baseman Jay Bell got to
the ball when Davis was a step from first and didn't make the
throw.
"I don't know what the school of thought is," Schilling said.
"I've seen a lot of games go late, and I've always heard that
after the fifth and sixth you earn your way on. It's a 2-0 game, so
I can't really be out there being (mad) about that, because the
tying run is at the plate from that point on, and you've got to get
outs. But I was a little surprised, yeah."
Brenly, the Diamondbacks' manager, wasn't as diplomatic.
"Ben Davis is young and has a lot to learn," Brenly said.
"That was just uncalled for."
Grace said the benefit of the doubt went to Davis since it was a
2-0 game at that point and, as it turned out, the Padres got the
winning run to the plate that inning.
"No problem with it," Grace said. "But I wouldn't do it."
"I've never, in my big league career, been a part of a
no-hitter, either for me or against me, and I really thought that
tonight might be the night that I get to witness one, because he
was that good," Grace said.
Schilling said that when he got Phil Nevin to fly out to right
for the first out of the eighth, that he thought he was going to
get it. Nevin was the first batter who got a three-ball count.
"I felt good, I thought I had all the pitches," Schilling
said. "I knew how I wanted to pitch the last five guys. I thought
I had a shot."
But he said he's not disappointed.
"I would have loved to have gotten it. It would have been a
dream come true," he said. "When you get through the seventh,
sure, I mean, I wanted it and I wanted it as bad as anybody out
there. But this was a good win for us."
After Davis reached, Schilling then walked Bubba Trammell on a
full-count before retiring pinch-hitters Dave Magadan and Mike
Darr.
The Diamondbacks peppered Davis with profanities.
"I'll let them worry about it," said Davis, who added that
teammate Tony Gwynn, an eight-time batting champ and member of the
3,000-hit club, said he did the right thing.
"I would understand where they're coming from if it's
6-nothing, but I brought the tying run to the plate and Bubba can
go deep at any time," Davis said. "If he goes deep right there,
it's a tie ballgame.
"I don't know if you saw my swings against him tonight, but
they weren't good. I'm just trying to get on base any way I can
right there, and I did."
Exactly two weeks earlier, the Padres were no-hit by Florida's
A.J. Burnett, although Burnett's gem included nine walks – a record
for a nine-inning no-hitter – and a hit batter.
Alex Arias doubled leading off the ninth, Mark Kotsay singled
and Ryan Klesko hit a sacrifice fly.
Klesko called the Diamondbacks' complaints "unprofessional."
"That was just stupid," he said. "I don't care what they
think. We are trying to beat these guys."
Schilling's career low-hit game remains the one-hitter he threw
against the New York Mets on Sept. 9, 1992, while he was with
Philadelphia.
Schilling was in command from the start. He retired seven of the
first nine batters on groundouts and struck out the other two. The
Padres didn't get a ball out of the infield until Rickey Henderson
flied out to right leading off the fourth.
He struck out the side in the seventh, mowing down the Padres'
top three hitters – Rickey Henderson, Kotsay and Klesko – on 13
pitches.
Jay Bell and Reggie Sanders homered for the Diamondbacks, who
handed Adam Eaton (6-3) his first loss in just more than a month.
Eaton had won his previous four decisions over a span of five
starts since his last loss on April 23.
Eaton did get his first complete game, allowing seven hits while
striking out six and walking two.
Bell hit a solo homer with one out in the first and also scored
on Grace's single in the third.
Sanders homered leading off the ninth, his 14th.
Game notes
Gwynn, on the disabled list for the second time this season
with a right hamstring strain, ran on Saturday and said he didn't
experience any problems. It was the first time he'd run since
Wednesday in Houston. "It's got to be pain free," said Gwynn, who
could come off the DL sometime this week. Gwynn was on the DL the
first time from April 21-May 8, then played just two games before
he got hurt again.
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OTHER GAMES
Baseball Scoreboard
Arizona Clubhouse
San Diego Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Yankees 12
Cleveland 5
Texas 0
Baltimore 0
Oakland 5
Minnesota 4
Minnesota 7
Oakland 6
(2nd game)
Anaheim 10
Tampa Bay 4
Toronto 5
Boston 0
Chi. White Sox 8
Detroit 0
Seattle 7
Kansas City 2
Florida 7
NY Mets 3
Milwaukee 0
Chicago Cubs 0
Colorado 10
San Francisco 4
Atlanta 9
Pittsburgh 3
Cincinnati 7
St. Louis 2
Montreal 0
Philadelphia 0
Arizona 3
San Diego 1
Los Angeles 7
Houston 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Curt Schilling was taken off-guard by Ben Davis' bunt attempt in the 8th inning.
avi: 800 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN
Cable Modem
 Ben Davis wanted to reach base by all means necessary.
wav: 216 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Arizona manager Bob Brenly strongly disagrees with Ben Davis' strategy to end Curt Schilling's perfect game.
wav: 88 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
ESPN's Baseball 2Day crew gives there thoughts on Ben Davis' controversial bunt.
wav: 920 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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