Young's 12 Ks, triple spark Padres past Marlins

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Chris Young hadn't hit a triple or needed to slide since high school.

Since he's 6-foot-10, it was quite a sight.

Young helped himself with his bat, hitting his first big league triple to start the winning rally, and struck out a career-high 12 to lead the San Diego Padres to a 3-2 victory over the Florida Marlins on Friday night. Mike Cameron hit a two-run homer and Dave Roberts had three hits for the Padres.

As impressive as Young was in winning his third straight start -- he's allowed one earned run in 22 innings -- the Padres needed his bat to jump-start their offense.

Young's triple was hardly graceful, but it was the first of three Padres hits in a span of three pitches in the fifth inning that took them from a one-run deficit to a 3-1 lead.

Young's opposite-field hit off Ricky Nolasco (4-3) skipped past right fielder Jeremy Hermida, who tried to make a sliding catch. The lanky pitcher legged out a triple, finishing it with a clumsy slide.

"It's been a long time," Young said. "That's all right. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. The ball hit my bat and fortunately it fell in and got past the right fielder. So really, that's all there is to it."

Before Young rounded second, he saw that third base coach Glenn Hoffman was waving him on.

"As soon as I saw him waving I knew I could get there, so luckily I made it," he said.

Roberts doubled over left fielder Joe Borchard's head to score Young, and Cameron hit a go-ahead two-run homer to left, his second.

"I left two balls over the plate and they made me pay," Nolasco said.

Marlins rookie Mike Jacobs, who is from San Diego, tied his career high with four hits, including a solo homer in the third inning. He made his big league debut on Aug. 17 with the New York Mets, and a week later had four hits at Arizona.

Young's double-digit strikeout performance came 18 days after ace Jake Peavy set the Padres record with 16 strikeouts in a 3-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves on May 22.

"He's pitching as well as any pitcher I've seen for three starts," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He gave us another great effort today. We needed it. He is just locating so well right now and using his pitches."

Young was fatigued a bit by his base-running, and the Marlins had runners on first and third with no outs in the sixth before Young retired the side.

"I was aggressive with my fastball, trying to move it in and out, up and down," he said. "The thing about the strikeouts is it gets your pitch total up pretty quickly. I would have liked to have been able to have a little pitch count to be able to stay out there at least another inning, but our bullpen has been good lately."

Young (6-3) won his third straight start, although the one run and five hits he allowed in six innings were more than the right-hander gave up in his last two appearances combined, when he allowed three hits in 16 scoreless innings. Young took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against Colorado on May 30 before allowing a leadoff double, with he and Trevor Hoffman combining on a two-hitter. He held Pittsburgh to two hits in eight innings on Sunday.

Young walked three.

Hoffman pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 15 chances, allowing pinch-hitter Wes Helms' RBI double with two outs.

Young extended his streak to 18 scoreless innings before allowing Jacobs' homer to right with two outs in the third, his eighth, that gave Florida a 1-0 lead.

"I was able to put a pretty good swing on a changeup," said Jacobs, who had between 50 and 70 family and friends at the game. "I think it definitely pumps you up more to be playing in front of your family."

One batter earlier, Dan Uggla was thrown out trying to stretch a triple into an inside-the-park homer. Right fielder Brian Giles leaped against the home run porch in the corner, but the ball caromed off toward center field. Cameron picked it up and threw to second baseman Josh Barfield, who threw to Mike Piazza for the easy out.

Young struck out the side in the first, second and fifth innings. The Marlins had runners on first and third with one out in the first but failed to score, and runners on second and third with two outs in the sixth before Young ended the threat.

Nolasco allowed three runs and six hits in six innings, struck out six and walked one.

Game notes
San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez doubled leading off the second to extend his career-high hitting streak to 17 games, the longest active streak in the majors. ... Padres pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts. ... Young has lowered his ERA from 4.32 to 3.25 in his last three starts. ... His previous strikeout high was eight, most recently against the Rockies on May 30. ... Hoffman has 450 career saves, 28 short of tying Lee Smith for first on the all-time list. Hoffman had his first blown save of the season on Thursday at Milwaukee.