University Southern California Trojans
Lead Slips Away from Prior, Cubs
July 31, 2002 | Baseball
July 30, 2002
CHICAGO (AP) - Tom Lampkin provided the pick-me-up the San Diego Padres needed.
Lampkin tied the game with a seventh-inning home run and singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth Tuesday night, leading the Padres past the Chicago Cubs 6-5.
The Padres had just dropped four straight to the Arizona Diamondbacks, including an especially tough loss Sunday in which Luis Gonzalez hit a game-winning single in the 10th inning after a third-strike call on an 0-2 check swing was overruled, giving him another chance.
"I didn't think we played that badly Arizona," said Lampkin, whose club lost a pair of one-run games to the world champions. "But to come in here and come from behind is a testament to our abilities."
Bubba Trammell also homered as the Padres overcame Sammy Sosa's 32nd homer.
Mike Holtz (2-1) pitched two innings, and Trevor Hoffman got three outs for his 25th save in 26 chances, sending the Cubs to their sixth loss in seven games. Tom Gordon (0-1) was the loser.
Mark Prior, a San Diego native who attended Southern Cal, faced his hometown team for the first time and struck out 10. The rookie, making his 13th major league start, left after Brian Buchanan's shot hit his right foot in the seventh inning.
Prior walked off the field under his own power and sat in the dugout. He had thrown 115 pitches, and Jeff Fassero was ready in the bullpen.
"I was going to take him out anyway," Cubs manager Bruce Kimm said.
Prior couldn't hold a 5-2 lead, allowing five runs and eight hits in six-plus innings. He reached double digits in strikeouts for the fourth time.
"We had a lead and it should have been enough for me," Prior said. "I'm disappointed in myself."
San Diego closed within a run on Trammell's two-run homer in the sixth, which went over the seats in left and landed on Waveland Avenue.
"At least he made it past the second row of seats this time," said Prior, who has allowed 11 homers in 79 innings this season. "I lost my focus in the second and maybe I lost it in the sixth."
Lampkin came in batting .195 and was 0-for-2 until he tied it in the seventh with his sixth homer. He put the Padres ahead with a two-out single in the eighth off Gordon.
"Gordon threw a curve. It wasn't a bad pitch that was down and happened to find a hole," Lampkin said.
Sosa's two-run homer and Corey Patterson's two-out RBI double built a 3-0 lead in the first.
Gene Kingsale hit an RBI double to left in the second, and one out later, pitcher Bobby J. Jones pulled the Padres within a run with a safety squeeze.
Mark Bellhorn hit a solo homer in the bottom half, and Bill Mueller homered in the fifth.
Jones allowed five runs in six innings.
"There was a lot of game left and the wind was blowing out," Jones said. "We don't roll over and die."
