By Jonathan Sanfilippo
Staff Reporter
Baek Cha-seung is trying a different approach in his pitching.
Instead of taking his time to carefully think and plan every pitch, the San Diego Padres starter is working quickly, throwing with little rest between pitches.
``Sometimes I would lose focus,'' Baek said in a story by The Associated Press (AP). ``This is more aggressive.''
The strategy worked on Sunday as Baek pitched seven strong innings to help the Padres beat the Washington Nationals 6-2 in front of an announced crowd of 29,608 at Nationals Park in Washington. The right-hander allowed one run and five hits, while tallying five strikeouts and no walks.
``He got on the hill, we got the sign into him, and he went,'' Padres catcher Nick Hundley said in the AP story. ``There wasn't a lot of thought process on his mechanics or pitch selection ― he threw with a clear mind.''
Baek, who was born in Busan but is now an American citizen, improved his season record to 6-9 while lowering his ERA to 4.72.
Despite his performance, the Padres remain at the bottom of the National League (NL) West division with a 61-95 record. San Diego and Washington (58-98), which is last in the NL East, each have six games left in the regular season and have been eliminated from the playoff race.
``Things aren't going our way, but I think we just do the best we can with the things we can control ― running balls out, playing hard, and just trying to stay in the game mentally,'' Padres third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff said in the AP story. ``At this point in the season, it's hard to just hang them up, shut it down, quit early. I think it's important for us to finish strong.''
Kouzmanoff batted 2-for-4 Sunday with three RBIs, including a two-run double against Nationals starter Odalis Perez (7-11) that gave the Padres a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in the sixth that extended the lead to 3-0, and the Padres hung on the rest of the way for the win.