PHILADELPHIA -- That sure wasn't much of a footrace Saturday between Padres third base coach Glenn Hoffman and speedy center fielder Cameron Maybin, although the 53-year-old Hoffman certainly had no problem with the outcome.
"He beat me," Hoffman joked of Maybin's frenzied sprint down the line during the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly that decided the outcome of the game.
"He [Maybin] just has another gear. It was a great throw but Cammie was able to find another gear that not many guys have."
Maybin was able to score from third base on a not-so-deep fly ball to Hunter Pence in right field off the bat of Jesus Guzman. The throw home by Pence arrived a scant second after Maybin did, allowing him to score the go-ahead run in the Padres' 2-1 victory over the Phillies before a sold-out crowd of 45,542 at Citizens Bank Park.
Maybin, who missed Friday's game with a stomach illness, pumped his fist after his direct slide to the plate beat the tag from Phillies' catcher Carlos Ruiz after Pence's dart of a throw.
"The ball wasn't too deep but against [Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay] you've got to make stuff happen," Maybin said.
Halladay (3-3) struck out 10 on Saturday but lost for the second time this season to the Padres (12-22), who have struggled against pitchers with far less talent and credentials not nearly as impressive as the two Cy Young Awards that Halladay owns.
The Padres became the first team to beat Halladay twice in a season since the Rays did so four times in 2009 and the Red Sox did twice that season while Halladay was still pitching for the Blue Jays.
"When you come in here, you know you're going to get good pitching," Padres manager Bud Black said. "When you eke out a win against him [Halladay] in this park ... I think that says a lot about us."
The victory was No. 400 for Black, all coming with the Padres since he took over as manager before the 2007 season.
Upstaging Halladay was Padres starting pitcher Edinson Volquez (2-2), who allowed one run on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts in six innings. In doing so, Volquez lowered his ERA to a scant 2.79.
"Everything was working tonight," Volquez said of his three-pitch mix, the fastball, curveball and his plus changeup that actually took a back seat to the fastball and curveball on Saturday.
The Padres bullpen combined for three scoreless innings, with Dale Thayer pitching a scoreless ninth for his second save since Huston Street went on the disabled list on May 5. But getting to Thayer was sort of a chore, as reliever Luke Gregerson endured a wild seventh inning.
Gregerson mishandled a comebacker by pinch-hitter Juan Pierre to start the seventh and then he threw away a sacrifice bunt by Jimmy Rollins, leaving runners on second and third base with no outs and with the Phillies' 2-3-4 hitters due up.
"I should have made both of those plays," Gregerson said afterward. "Those are routine plays. I just tried to stay calm. That's the best you can do."
Actually, Gregerson did more than that.
First, Gregerson managed to snag a hot comebacker from Placido Polanco for the first out before issuing an intentional walk to Shane Victorino -- who reached base four times -- before getting Pence to pop up in shallow right field to second baseman Orlando Hudson. Gregerson then got Ty Wigginton to ground into a force play at second base to end the inning.
"I'm going to tell you, we had quite a few chances to score. We left quite a few men on base," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "We definitely left a lot in scoring position and we couldn't get a hit."
Halladay allowed two runs on seven hits with one walk and the 10 strikeouts but he's winless in his last five starts. The Phillies (15-19) have scored 10 runs while Halladay has been in the game during this fitful streak that the offensively-challenged Padres can certainly sympathize with.
Just not Saturday, though.
The Padres got their first run in the third inning, when Will Venable had an RBI double to score Jason Bartlett, who also had a double earlier in the game. Then in the seventh inning, Maybin lined a double to the wall in right-center and advanced to third base on John Baker's single. He scored on the Guzman fly ball to Pence, with Hoffman running alongside him down the third base line.
"I don't know if anyone but Maybin scores on that," Black said.
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