It was nice to finally see someone pay for all of the walks Adrian Gonzalez has been drawing. The Padres’ lineup has seen a lot of changes, including the spot behind Adrian Gonzalez. No one wants to pitch to Adrian Gonzalez-why should they, he leads baseball with 22 home runs. Kevin Kouzmanoff was the player who was able to come through in last night’s game against the D-Backs. Mostly after Adrian Gonzalez’s 3walks, Kouzmanoff had two big 2-run knocks.

In his first 2 at-bats, Koumanoff struggled. Withthe bases loaded with one out in the first inning, Kouzmanoff hit an unproductive fly ball to shallow right field. This came after Adrian’s first walk of the game. In his second at-bat, Kouz hit into a double play. Jon Garland looked like he would roll over the Padres once again, and it looked like Jake Peavy would once again not recieve any run support. That was the feeling until the bottom of the 5th. Arizona had a 2-0 lead, and a rally was desperately needed. The Padres got it, starting with Henry Blanco. Blanco walked, and that was followed by a Josh Wilson single. After Jake Peavy got a crucial bunt down, Tony Gwynn knocked in Blanco with a single. Eckstein hit a sac fly to tie up the game, and the big hitters were coming up. However, Garland worked around them, hitting Brian Giles with a pitch and walking Gonzalez. (of course) The last thing Kevin Kouzmanoff wanted to do was leave the bases loaded again. So, on the first pitch, Kouzknocked in 2 runs with an opposite field single. Jake and the Padres now had a 4-2 lead. With Garland still pitching in the 7th, Kouzmanoffput an exclamation point on the night with another 2 out, 2-run hit.

Coming off the respiratory infection, Jake Peavy came up big in this one. Peavy went 7 strong innings, striking out 8 batters. Heath Bell picked up his 17th save.