Chris Young flirts with no-hitter in Padres' 1-0 victory

He allowed only two hits by Pittsburgh, which finished a 7-3 homestand.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The way Chris Young is pitching, it may not be long before the San Diego Padres have their first no-hitter.
Five days after taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning, Young held the Pittsburgh Pirates hitless through 51/3 innings in leading the San Diego Padres to a 1-0 win Sunday afternoon.
"The last two games, things have gone my way," the 6-foot-10 right-hander said. "Things might turn [for the worse], but right now, things are good."
The 26-year-old allowed only a pinch-hit single to left by Jose Hernandez and a seventh-inning one-out Jason Bay triple in eight innings. He struck out four and walked one.
Manager impressed
"Back-to-back games like that is pretty impressive," San Diego manager Bruce Bochy said. "He did a super job again. He was locating well, using all his pitches. He feels good right now, and that's obvious.
"We needed it, too. We got the one run and that was it."
Brian Giles singled in Dave Roberts in the third inning to give San Diego a 1-0 lead off of Pittsburgh starter Victor Santos (3-6). Mike Cameron had two hits and two stolen bases for the Padres, who have won four of five.
"Usually, one run doesn't cut it," Giles said. "But [Young] was outstanding today."
Young (5-3), who has been traded by the Pirates, Expos and Rangers in the past 31/2 years, retired the first 10 batters he faced before a one-out walk to Jose Bautista in the fourth. Each of the Pirates' first 15 outs came via strikeout, flyball or popup.
"We popped the ball in the air a lot," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "We couldn't figure him out.
"Give credit where credit is due. The guy we faced today now has allowed no runs and three hits in 16 innings pitched."
Close play
Ryan Doumit led off the sixth with a grounder to first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, whose throw to Young just beat Doumit to the bag.
Doumit left the game after the groundout with a strained left hamstring -- the same injury Doumit spent three weeks on the disabled list for earlier this season. The Pirates said they will know more about his status today, but Tracy indicated he believed a trip to the disabled list appeared likely.
But that play was one of only two groundball outs against Young.
Young threw 91 pitches -- 62 for strikes -- and faced only three batters above the minimum in his eight innings.
He induced Jeromy Burnitz to pop-up to foul territory near third and Freddy Sanchez to fly out to right to get out of his only jam after Bay tripled.
"He just had a real deceiving fastball he was throwing for strikes," Bay said. "He's a big guy, which makes him a little different anyway. And it was the first time we've seen him. We couldn't figure him out."
Santos allowed seven hits and one run in five innings while striking out five for the Pirates, who went 7-3 on their homestand.
"We have been playing good ball," Bautista said.
"It was a tough loss today, but if we go 7-3 the whole year on our homestands, we should be all right."
Saturday
On Saturday, Zach Duke pitched seven innings and Ronny Paulino drove in three runs to lift the Pirates over San Diego, 6-4.
Duke (4-6), who had lost his previous four starts before earning the win Monday over the Milwaukee Brewers, allowed San Diego three first-inning runs, but settled down after that and permitted only one hit over the next six innings. He struck out four and walked three.
Mike Gonzalez pitched the ninth for his seventh save in seven chances, giving up a sacrifice fly to Josh Barfield.
Rookie Mike Thompson (2-2) endured the worst start of his young career. The 25-year-old had won two of his first three starts -- not allowing more than three earned runs in any of them. But he gave up six runs and eight hits.
Notes
It was a rainy weekend in Pittsburgh. Friday and Saturday, the starting times were pushed back by lengthy delays -- Friday night's 6-0 Padres win was played with heavy showers throughout and ended after six innings. Although Sunday's game was not delayed at any point, light showers persisted during most of the game. ... San Diego remains one of four big league teams without a no-hitter.
The others are the Colorado Rockies, New York Mets and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. ... The Pirates have not been no-hit since Aug. 14, 1971, by St. Louis' Bob Gibson. ... Before Bay's triple, the Pirates' last three-base hit was May 13.
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