Bell gets 40th Save in Colorado

Wednesday September 23, 2009

Will Venable was red hot on a cold and drizzly night in Denver, driving in 4 runs on his 12th home run and a 3 run double, to lead the San Diego Padres to a 6-3 win over the Colorado Rockies tonight at Coors Field.

Starter Tim Stauffer was wild early, walking 4 in the 1st two innings, but after a dressing down on the mound by manager Buddy Black in the 2nd, Stauffer took a no hitter into the 5th inning before surrendering 2 runs.

More than anything, Stauffer's pitch count, 101 pitches, ended his night early. His final line: 4 2/3 innings pitched, 3 hits, 2 runs, 5 walks and 3 strike outs.

Stauffer didn't get the win, but he did contribute a single and scored a run on Venable's 3 run double in the 5th.

Reliever Ryan Webb came in and bailed out Stauffer with 2 on and 2 outs in the 5th to get his first major league win.

Heath Bell got his NL leading 40th save of the season. Bell became only the 3rd Padres pitcher to get 40 saves. Mark Davis had 44 saves in his Cy Young season in 1989 and Trevor Hoffman had nine 40 save seasons as a Padre.

Jason Marquis took the loss for the Rockies and saw his record fall to 15-12. After going 11-6 with a 3.65 era in the first half, Marquis has gone 4-6 with a 4.48 ERA in 12 starts in the 2nd half.

The Rockies lead in the Wild Card standings is now 4 games over the Atlanta Braves and division foe San Francisco Giants with 10 games to play for all three teams.

The Padres record improved to 70-83. With 9 games remaining on the Friars schedule, 5 at home, they have a shot at ending the season with 12 game improvement over 2008 by taking 5 of 9 against division foes.