The Padres said good bye to an awful April and welcome May with open arms and a win streak. The Padres beat the Dodgers in the last two games of the series to win their first series since the season opener in St. Louis. If Nick Hundley’s line drive in the ninth of game one goes a foot to the left of Tony Gwynn Jr.’s glove they could have been looking at a series sweep of their Southern California rivals.

The series was highlighted with key hits with runners in scoring position. That was an area that had plagued the Padres throughout the opening month. Heath Bell also converted his first save opportunity since April 20^th. Another first was Dustin Moseley, arguably the Padres best pitcher in April, finally getting a win on May 1^st. Here is a game by game recap of how the Padres turned it around in Los Angeles.

April 29^th, 2011, Dodgers 3, Padres 2

WP Ted Lilly (2-2) 6IP 5H 1R 1ER 1BB 1K 0HR

LP Clayton Richard (1-2) 5.2IP 8H 2R 2ER 3BB 3K 1HR

S Jonathon Broxton (6) 1IP 3H 1R 1ER 0BB 1K 0HR

Tony Gwynn Jr made a diving catch to end the game and beat the Padres yet again. The Padres trailed 3-1 in the ninth facing Dodger fireballer Jonathon Broxton. The Padres managed three straight singles by Will Venable, Orlando Hudson, and Chase Headley that scored a run and left runners at the corners for Nick Hundley. Hundley lifted a line drive to left that Gwynn chased down and caught to secure the win.

The Dodgers took an early lead when Andre Either grounded out to the shortstop, scoring Jamey Carroll. Eithier extended his hit streak to 25 games with a double in the fifth.

Nick Hundley tied the game with an RBI double in the third inning, scoring Chase Headley.

But The Dodgers retook the lead when Juan Uribe homered the next inning. Matt Kemp hit a deep homer in the seventh to put Los Angeles up 3-1.

April 30^th, 2011 Padres 5, Dodgers 2

WP Luke Gregerson (1-1) 0.1IP 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 0K 0HR

LP Matt Guerrier (2-2) 1IP 3H 2R 2ER 2BB 0K 0HR

S Heath Bell (6) 1IP 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 1K 0HR

The Padres were able to score with the bases loaded and two outs, albeit by unconventional methods such as the wild pitch that scored Will Venable, putting them up for good in the eighth. They added two more with Cameron Maybin’s single to left field. Chase Headley appeared to be out but Dioner Navarro dropped the ball as Headley slid home for a 5-3 lead.

Andre Either had a couple singles to extend his hitting streak to 26 games, a major league record for April. He scored after his first hit in the fourth on a sacrifice-fly by James Loney.

Tim Stauffer helped himself with a sac fly in the fifth inning, scoring Cam Maybin who after the catch, had to retreat back a few steps to tag before heading home. Ryan Ludwick later singled in Will Venable from second base, crossing home before Jason Bartlett was thrown at third to end the inning.

Tim Stauffer took a three hitter into the seventh but surrendered a two-out double and then hit a batter before being pulled for Luke Gregerson to face Tony Gwynn Jr. Gwynn singled in a run to tie the game and take a potential win away from Tim Stauffer.

After the Padres regained the lead in the eighth, Mike Adams and Heath Bell posted scoreless innings to finish the game. Bell saved his 40^th consecutive game.

May 1^st, 2011 Padres 7, Dodgers 0

WP Dustin Moseley (1-3) 7IP 3H 0R 0ER 2BB 6K 0HR

LP Jon Garland (1-2) 6IP 3H 3R 3ER 4BB 8K 0HR

Dustin Moseley got to add a nice big “1” to his win column as he got plenty of run support to earn his first win for San Diego, 7-0 over the Dodgers Sunday in Los Angeles.  Moseley was phenomenal for seven innings, striking out eight while walking two.

The Padres jumped to an early lead in the second when Cameron Maybin singled in Nick Hundley with two on in the third. Brad Hawpe then knocked in two more with a perfectly place single to shallow left.

The Padres blew it open in the eighth adding four more runs highlighted by Chase Headley’s two-out double.

The win was the Padres 11^th of the season and the first time they won two straight since the first two games of the season in St. Louis. It was also only the second series won by the Friars this year.