The Padres almost put together a three game win streak for the first time this year, but could not muster enough late inning efforts to win and fell to the Washington Nationals by a score of 6-4. Scott Hairston homered in the bottom of the seventh, part of a three run inning that pulled the Padres with two but it was as close as they would get.
Starter Shawn Estes had a hard time upon hitting the fourth inning. He had cruised through three scoreless innings until that point, but Aaron Boone got to him first with a single. A walk, wild pitch and hit batter followed and loaded the bases. Jesus Flores promptly unloaded them with a grand slam.
Odalis Perez needed little more than the 4-0 lead. Perez waited until the bottom of the fifth before the Padres finally got one on the board. Tad Iguchi drove in a run with a single that put the score at 4-1. The Nationals added back on to their lead in the next inning. Lastings Milledge hit a solo homer to put the margin back at 4. The Nationals added one more run off reliever Mike Adams in the top of the seventh.
The Padres seventh inning rally started with back to back doubles by Luke Carlin and Tony Clark. Hairston came up and homered bringing home Clark to pull the Padres closer at 6-4 but that was as close as it would get.
Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch did not allow the Padres another base runner and struck out four of the final eight outs. Rauch picked up his 11th save.
Freddy Guzman had three hits for the Nationals while Jose Lopez and Jesus Flores each had two. Iguchi led the Padres with three hits.