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Yangervis Solarte, San Diego Padres streak toward .500

By Walter Villa, The Sports Xchange
San Diego Padres Yangervis Solarte crosses home plate. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
San Diego Padres Yangervis Solarte crosses home plate. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

MIAMI -- With four wins in a row and seven in the past eight games, the San Diego Padres are having fun.

"I think you can see it," Padres manager Pat Murphy said after his team defeated the Miami Marlins 5-3 on Saturday night. "Anybody who is around us can tell. The security guard from Miami said he had never seen anything like this."

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San Diego third baseman Yangervis Solarte -- who went 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, two runs scored and one RBI -- said he hopes his Padres (51-53) are ready to make a run in the National League West.

"They showed confidence in us," Solarte, speaking in Spanish, said of Padres management, which decided not to make wholesale changes at the trade deadline. "We're happy about that, and we're just trying to win game by game."

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Padres right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne (5-7) earned the win, beating Miami for the second time in one week.

Despaigne, a native of Cuba who was pitching on Colombian Heritage Night at Marlins Park, allowed five hits, one walk and three runs in six-plus innings. He struck out five.

The Padres used four relievers to close out the game, including left-hander Marc Rzepczynski, who was acquired in a trade with the Cleveland Indians on Friday.

Rzepczynski inherited a jam -- runners on first and third and one out -- and got two groundouts to end the inning, with only one run crossing the plate (charged to Despaigne).

"The new guy was tremendous," said Murphy, who said that is what he will call his lefty reliever until he learns to pronounce his name, hopefully by Sunday. "He flew in last night from Oakland, and he's dealing with East Coast time now."

Padres closer Craig Kimbrel closed out the game with a perfect ninth inning, earning his 31st save. It was redemption for Kimbrel, who blew just his second save chance of the season on Friday.

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The Marlins (42-62) have lost four games and three series in a row. Rookie right-hander Jose Urena (1-5) took the loss, allowing eight hits and five runs (four earned) in five innings.

Miami got two scoreless innings of relief from each of the two rookie left-handers they recalled from Triple-A New Orleans earlier in the day -- Adam Conley and Chris Reed.

For Reed, a native of London, it was his major-league debut. He became the first Marlins player born in England. Since 1970, he is just the fifth big-leaguer from England.

"We're trying to win games right now," Marlins manager Dan Jennings said. "But this was also an audition for those guys to showcase what they can do for next year to go along with this great core that we have.

"Tonight was a heck of a (game) for these two kids. We had seen Conley before, and he is definitely on the map. And it was a heck of a debut for Reed."

Urena, though, struggled, and San Diego scored a run in the first inning.

Solarte hit a one-out double, advanced to third on a single by right fielder Matt Kemp and scored on left fielder Justin Upton's sacrifice fly, which carried to the warning track in left-center.

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Solarte also was key in the big third inning, driving an RBI triple to the gap in right-center and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Kemp. Catcher Derek Norris capped the rally with a two-out double.

Norris got one RBI on the play, and the second run scored when left fielder Derek Dietrich let the ball get past him in the corner. Dietrich was charged with an error, helping the Padres extend their lead to 5-0.

"(The Padres) were able to eliminate other pitches and just (wait for fastballs)," Jennings said of Urena's issues. "They did damage."

Added Urena: "I was trying to get outs with my slider, but I was missing my location."

The Marlins scored twice in the fifth -- on two-out RBI singles by pinch hitter Donovan Solano and second baseman Dee Gordon.

In the seventh, Dietrich struck out but reached on a wild pitch and eventually scored on a groundout by pinch hitter Justin Bour, cutting San Diego's lead to 5-3.

NOTES: San Diego designated C Tim Federowicz for assignment, recalled RHP Leonel Campos from Triple-A and put RHP Ian Kennedy on the paternity list. ... Miami recalled LHPs Adam Conley and Chris Reed from Triple-A. Both will be used as relievers. Reed was born in England. ... Miami RHP Jose Fernandez, 15-0 with a 1.19 ERA in 23 career home starts, gets another chance to excel at Marlins Park when he starts Sunday's series finale. ... When the New York Mets visit Miami on Monday through Wednesday, the Marlins will throw RHP Tom Koehler in the opener and RHP David Phelps in the finale. The middle game is TBD, but manager Dan Jennings said LHP Brad Hand will "probably" get the start. ... Former Marlins 1B Michael Morse, traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.

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