Gyorko plates six; Padres drub Fernandez, Fish

SAN DIEGO -- Chances are, Jedd Gyorko wasn't going to get much sleep Thursday night -- and not just because his fielding error in the 11th inning essentially paved the way for a Marlins victory.

The Padres second baseman has been sleep starved recently because his newborn twin boys, not even two weeks old, are nowhere near the point of sleeping through the night.

But for whatever reason, Brody and Kadin gave dad a break Thursday, which allowed Gyorko something akin to a full night of sleep.

"Maybe they sensed that I needed it," Gyorko said smiling.

Well-rested on Friday, Gyorko atoned for his fielding gaffe in a big way, as he drilled two home runs, one a grand slam, to lead the Padres to a 10-1 victory over the Marlins in front of a crowd of 22,553 at Petco Park.

It was, to be sure, the first laugher of the season for the Padres (16-21), who have scuffled offensively in the first five-plus weeks of the season, struggling to bunch together hits and drive in runs with runners in scoring position.

Not Friday, though.

"Those are the types of games that happen," said Padres manager Bud Black. "It's rare that we have only had one."

That the Padres managed to do so against one of the top pitchers in all of baseball -- Jose Fernandez -- made this offensive outburst seem even more unlikely. Consider that before Friday, the most runs the Padres had scored in a game this season was six.

Black certainly hopes that's not the case moving forward.

"I think there's more of that to come," he said. "I think guys are more capable of those performances."

In two previous starts vs. the Padres, Fernandez had a combined 14 2/3 scoreless innings. Last month in Miami, he struck out eight in 6 2/3 scoreless innings.

In the second inning, Yasmani Grandal reached on an error and Gyorko -- who entered the game hitting .146 -- connected for a two-run home run to right field. Cameron Maybin later lined out to the fence in deep center field and Yonder Alonso doubled. There was a lot of hard contact early.

"It just wasn't his night. You could tell from the first inning on, he was up in the zone. They hit some balls hard off him," said Marlins manager Mike Redmond. "The error cost him a couple of runs. It looked like his command was off and he was up in the zone."

Black and Gyorko alluded to following an aggressive game plan at the plate against Fernandez (4-2), getting fastballs early in the count so not to see -- or to avoid as much as possible -- his plus curveball.

"We hit some balls right on the barrel," Black said. "Our intent was to be aggressive. I think we had a plan of attacking him before he could attack us."

The Padres chased Fernandez in the sixth inning, as he loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. He then fell behind Gyorko with two balls before trying to sneak a fastball by him. Gyorko opened his hips and turned on the ball, sending it over the fence in left field for a 6-0 lead.

It was certainly a far cry from how Gyorko felt just 24 hours earlier when he left Petco Park, receiving consoling from his manager and teammates after his fielding error extended an inning and let Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton hit, which led to a decisive two-run home run.

"That was one of the lowest points in my baseball career," Gyorko said.

But Friday proved to be a new day, and with starting pitcher Tyson Ross (4-3) getting a lot of mileage out of his slider, the Padres were well on their way.

Ross took a shutout into the seventh inning when he allowed a home run to Marcell Ozuna. That hardly took the shine off his outing, though, as he allowed the one run on four hits in seven innings with two walks and eight strikeouts.

"I thought the fastball command was there and thought the slider was effective," Black said. "I think the slider was in his back pocket all night to go to."

Pitching with a lead, while a different reality for Ross, felt somewhat liberating, as he was able to attack the strike zone early and often.

"It's huge to get that early in a game like that," the righty said. "It was awesome to see. We all knew that it was coming."

Just maybe not the way it did Friday, against one of the best young pitchers -- or maybe just one of the best pitchers period -- in the game.

That it came after a tough finish made it even sweeter for Gyorko, who might fall back into his routine of running for screaming babies and filling bottles before daybreak as soon as Saturday.

"It's nice to bounce back like that," Gyorko said.