San Diego, CA – Adrian Gonzalez stared down his long fly ball after it left his bat in the ninth inning.
The 225-pound first baseman followed the ball from the moment it left Huston Street's hand as a slider to when it found the sweet spot of his bat until it ultimately disappeared into the right-field seats.
Gonzalez eventually commenced a slow trot around the bases after hitting the home run that led the Dodgers to a 3-1 win over the San Diego Padres and a split of a four-game series.
Hanley Ramirez followed Gonzalez's blast with an opposite-field shot to right field off Huston Street (0-4) to give the Dodgers a two-run edge.
Los Angeles spoiled Andrew Cashner's stellar outing. Cashner took a no decision despite holding Los Angeles to one run on five hits over eight innings.
"We're seeing him mix pitches, seeing him get out of big jams when he needs to. He's growing as a pitcher," said Padres manager Bud Black.
Dodgers starter Chris Capuano also took a no decision after tossing five scoreless frames. The left-hander gave up four hits and struck out five without yielding a walk.
"He's been great," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. "He saved us today from having to make a roster move and do all kinds of the stuff that you don't necessarily want to do."
The Dodgers finally cracked Cashner in the seventh inning. Gonzalez led off with a double and scored when Juan Uribe delivered a two-out line drive down the first-base line, spotting Los Angeles a 1-0 lead.
Carlos Quentin tied the game in the bottom half of the seventh when he slammed a hanging slider over the left-field fence.
Gonzalez and Ramirez hammered back-to-back, one-out homers against Street to make a winner of Brandon League (3-3), who induced an inning-ending ground out in the eighth.
Kenley Jansen worked around Quentin's two-out single to pick up his fourth save of the year.
Game Notes
Ramirez has 11 hits in his last 22 at-bats, with six runs scored and seven RBI in that span ... Capuano has thrown 11 scoreless innings over his last two starts ... Capuano has a 1.37 earned run average in six road starts this season (four earned runs in 26 2/3 innings) ... Cashner has a 2.36 ERA at home this year (11 earned runs in 42 innings) ... Los Angeles went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and the Padres went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
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