In a brilliant performance that would be expected more from 6-foot-10 Randy Johnson, San Diego's Kevin Brown struck out 16 and allowed just two hits in eight innings Tuesday, leading the Padres to a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros in the opener of the best-of-5 division series.
Brown's strikeouts were the most ever in division series play and just one short of the Bob Gibson's postseason-record 17 in 1968 World Series.
Brown's previous high was 11, which he did three times in his final 11 regular-season starts.
Johnson had been practically untouchable at home, going 5-0 -- the first four wins were shutouts -- since the Astros acquired him from the Seattle Mariners on July 31.
Trevor Hoffman, who tied the NL record this season with 53 saves, allowed the unearned run on two hits in the ninth.
Bill Spiers led off with a double, and two outs later, Moises Alou hit an infield single that third baseman Ken Caminiti stopped, but threw well wide of first to allow the run to score.
San Diego's offense had struggled all September, but had nine hits in eight innings off the powerful left-hander to give Brown his first victory in five starts. And with the NL Central champion Astros flailing at Brown's hard, moving pitches, the Padres won a postseason game for the first time since 1984.
Greg Vaughn, who hit his 50th homer in his final regular-season at-bat Sunday night, homered leading off the eighth and Jim Leyritz hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to score Tony Gwynn, the only player left from San Diego's 1984 World Series team.
Brown, 18-7 during the regular season, beat Atlanta's Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine in last year's NL championship series while with Florida, and now has added Johnson to his list.
The right-hander, acquired for three prospects on Dec. 15, had been 0-2 with two no-decisions in his previous four starts despite allowing just seven earned runs in 30 innings.
Houston's Killer B's -- Craig Biggio, Derek Bell and Jeff Bagwell -- were a combined 0-for-10 with seven strikeouts.
Johnson was 10-1 for the Astros in the regular season, with the only loss a 4-0 defeat at Philadelphia on Aug. 17. He went eight innings Tuesday, striking out eight and walking one.
These teams had played five one-run games in the regular season, and the marquee matchup of two of baseball's most dominant pitchers was close and tense.
The NL West champion Padres finally broke through against Johnson in the sixth, when they loaded the bases with no outs on Gwynn's opposite-field double that appeared to nick third baseman Spiers' glove, Vaughn's infield single to third and Caminiti's broken-bat, bloop single to right that fell in just past the reach of second baseman Craig Biggio.
Leyritz, a right-hander starting for left-handed first baseman Wally Joyner, lifted a sacrifice fly to the warning track in center field.
Brown struck out the side in the third but not before some tense moments. Former Padres catcher Brad Ausmus singled with one out for Houston's first hit, then ended up on third after consecutive passed balls by Carlos Hernandez while Johnson was batting. Brown struck out Johnson and Craig Biggio.
Notes: In a surprise move, San Diego manager Bruce Bochy picked left-hander Sterling Hitchcock (9-7, 3.93) to face Houston's righty-dominated lineup in Game 3 in San Diego on Saturday. Bochy said the Padres feel Hitchcock will give them a better chance to win and that he can help slow Houston's running game. Houston manager Larry Dierker said facing a lefty will allow him to mix in outfielder Richard Hidalgo and third baseman Sean Berry so they can keep getting at-bats. ... The Padres went with 10 pitchers on their postseason roster in order to carry George Arias, who can spell third baseman Caminiti, who's been bothered by a hip flexor. ... Gwynn appeared to hurt himself sliding into second in the sixth and was replaced in right field in the bottom of the inning by Ruben Rivera. ... Hernandez's miscues marked the first time a catcher had two passed balls in a division series game. Ausmus had one last year against the Braves.
 Kevin Brown was unhittable, striking out 16 Astros |
 Craig Biggio was victimized twice |
Box Score
San Diego AB R H BI BB SO Avg. QVeras 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .000 1-Sheets pr-2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- Gwynn rf 3 1 1 0 0 1 .333 RRivera rf 2 0 0 0 0 2 .000 GVaughn lf 4 1 3 1 0 1 .750 Caminiti 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .250 Leyritz 1b 3 0 1 1 0 0 .333 Joyner 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- SFinley cf 3 0 0 0 1 2 .000 CHernandez c 4 0 2 0 0 0 .500 Gomez ss 3 0 1 0 1 0 .333 KBrown p 3 0 0 0 0 2 .000 b-Vander Wal ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 Hoffman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- Totals 34 2 9 2 2 11 Houston AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Biggio 2b 2 0 0 0 1 2 .000 Spiers 3b 4 1 1 0 0 0 .250 DeBell rf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .000 Bagwell 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .000 Alou lf 4 0 1 0 0 2 .250 Everett cf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .000 Gutierrez ss 3 0 0 0 0 3 .000 Ausmus c 3 0 2 0 0 1 .667 RJohnson p 2 0 0 0 0 2 .000 a-DClark ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 --- JaPowell p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- DHenry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- Totals 30 1 4 0 2 17 San Diego 000 001 010--2 9 1 Houston 000 000 001--1 4 0 a-walked for Ra.Johnson in the 8th. b-struck out for Brown in the 9th. 1-ran for Veras in the 9th. E--Caminiti (1). LOB--San Diego 9, Houston 5. 2B--Gwynn (1), Spiers (1). HR--GVaughn (1) off RJohnson. RBIs--GVaughn (1), Leyritz (1). CS--GVaughn (1). SF--Leyritz. GIDP--Spiers. Runners left in scoring position--San Diego 5 (QVeras, RRivera, CHernandez 2, Gomez); Houston 3 (Biggio, DeBell 2). Runners moved up--Spiers. DP--San Diego 1 (QVeras, Gomez and Leyritz). San Diego IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA KBrown W, 1-0 8 2 0 0 2 16 118 0.00 Hoffman S, 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 18 0.00 Houston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA RJohnson L, 0-1 8 9 2 2 1 9 106 2.25 JaPowell 2-3 0 0 0 1 1 15 0.00 DHenry 1-3 0 0 0 0 1 5 0.00
