Padres get first ever sweep of Marlins in San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The San Diego Padres have been nothing short of spectacular in May.

If 11 wins so far this month wasn't impressive enough, hanging 10 runs on the Florida Marlins in the seventh inning on Sunday certainly was.

"To put up double digits in one inning is awesome," Mark Loretta said after the Padres rallied to beat the Marlins 12-4 and sweep a three-game series. "It was a great comeback."

The Padres packed more than a game's worth of offense into the seventh, when they rallied from a 4-1 deficit behind Dave Roberts'

three-run homer and Brian Giles' two-run single.

The Padres sent 13 batters to the plate against starter A.J. Burnett -- who no-hit them four years ago -- and two relievers. The first eight batters reached base and they scored six runs before the Marlins got an out.

San Diego had six hits, drew three walks -- two with the bases loaded -- and benefited from a throwing error by first baseman Carlos Delgado. Only five of the runs were earned.

Roberts, pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney and Khalil Greene all batted twice and scored twice in the seventh.

Manager Bruce Bochy's reaction?

"I guess euphoria. When you're down going off a guy who I think could have the best arm in the major leagues -- I mean, he was letting it go out there -- we had some great at-bats and finally got to him," he said. "I think once you have a couple of comebacks, you have that confidence this club does. We did a great job today."

The Padres have lost only three times in 14 games this month. Overall, they've won 13 of 16.

The Padres were patient in the seventh and worked deep counts. Several players pointed to at-bats by Loretta and Ryan Klesko, who drew bases-loaded walks. Loretta got ahead 3-1 and took a pitch right down the middle.

"Some guys might swing out of their shoes but he didn't," Sweeney said.

Klesko started out 0-2 against lefty Matt Perisho before walking.

"Those guys to me are extremely disciplined hitters," Giles said. "I think the more you make their pitcher work, you're going to wear him down. The guy's throwing 100 mph. We needed to make him throw pitches and eventually we felt we could come up with some big hits."

Trailing 4-1, the Padres loaded the bases in the seventh on a single, walk and the error by Delgado, who tried to force Sweeney at second on a grounder by Roberts, but the ball hit Sweeney in the back. Loretta walked to force in a run and chase Burnett. Perisho came on and walked Klesko to make it 4-3.

Jim Mecir entered and allowed Phil Nevin's single, which tied the game at 4. Giles gave San Diego a 6-4 lead with his single to

right-center. Ramon Hernandez hit an RBI single before the Padres made their first out, on Sean Burroughs' sacrifice bunt.

Roberts capped the scoring with his three-run homer, his second, to right field, also off Mecir.

"I can't erase that one from my mind," said Burnett, who walked nine during his no-hitter in San Diego on May 12, 2001. "I let them back in it. To come out and do that in the seventh is terrible. It's unacceptable."

Said manager Jack McKeon: "The walks killed us."

A week earlier, the Padres allowed 11 runs in the first inning of a 15-5 loss at St. Louis.

"We just watched one in St. Louis," Sweeney said. "It was good to do it against somebody else."

The 10-run inning was a Petco Park record.

"You don't expect that here," said Giles, one of the Padres' sluggers who has complained about Petco's vast outfield. "It just seems like those things happen when you're playing well. A big inning here could be three or four singles in a row."

The Padres added a run in the eighth on sacrifice fly by Giles, who had three RBI. Greene had three hits.

Rudy Seanez (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win. Burnett (3-4) allowed five runs -- four earned -- on eight hits in six-plus innings, walked four and struck out four.

The Marlins had gone ahead 4-1 with five straight two-out hits off Brian Lawrence in the sixth inning.

Leading 1-0, Lawrence retired Juan Pierre and Chris Aguila. He had gotten 16 of 17 outs either by groundballs or strikeouts before the Marlins started hitting him hard and in the air.

Delgado singled up the middle, followed by Miguel Cabrera's single to right-center. Jeff Conine hit a flare to right-center to bring in the first run, Damion Easley doubled over Roberts' head in center field to bring in two more and Alex Gonzalez doubled down the right field line to make it 4-1 and chase Lawrence.

Burroughs hit a two-out single in the second inning and scored on Greene's double to center.

Lawrence allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, struck out four and walked none.

Game notes
Conine finished with three hits. ... After going 3-for-22 with runners in scoring position in its three previous games, Florida went 3-for-4 with runners in scoring position in the sixth inning.