THE SWEEP CURSE IS GONE; PADRES SWEEP GIANTS 5-3 ON OUTSTANDING OUTING FROM EDWIN JACKSON

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By Liz Alper

Photo:  National Ice Cream Day at Petco Park.  Courtesy @Padres on Twitter

July 17, 2016 (San Diego) - It's that day again, folks.  Sweep day.  Do the Padres finally break the curse?  Surprise:  they did.  And they did it in a dramatic way.  The kind of dramatic that's way more dramtic than it should've been.  Not the good kind of dramatic.

A fun pitching matchup awaited:  Johnny Cueto against the recently called up Edwin Jackson.

A quiet game to start, but Matt Kemp ended the deadlock with his second home run in as many days in the fourth to give the Padres a 1-0 lead.  Bethancourt destroyed a ball to the upper deck in left field for his fifth home run of the year and the Padres had two home runs in a row against Cueto in the fourth.  They now led 2-0.

In the sixth, the Padres chased Cueto out of the game in favor of George Kontos, who gave up a single to Ryan Schimpf to drive in Alex Dickerson and the Padres led 3-0.  Jackson was phenomenal at the plate as well, knocking a base hit to left to drive in Bethancourt for a 4-0 Padres lead and a new Giants pitcher, Javier Lopez.

Jackson's no-hitter evaporated after six and a third innings in the seventh in a big way when he gave up a three-run homer to Conor Gillaspie and just like last night, the Padres' big lead was now one at 4-3.

Yangervis Solarte saved the day again with a line drive homer inside the right field foul pole and the Padres went back up by two 5-3.  They'd take that to the end for their first sweep of the season.  You read that right:  the sweep curse is gone.  And it's against the best team in baseball, no less.

The Padres say goodbye to Petco Park for a week and a half as they embark on a long road trip, starting tomorrow with a four-game set in St. Louis.  The first pitch is at 5:15 p.m.   Christian Friedrich will start for the Padres against Mike Leake.

Transaction News:

  • The Padres have optioned pitcher Buddy Baumann to AAA El Paso

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