GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NL: PITTSBURGH (66-83) at SAN DIEGO (81-67)

Cassel pitches gem as Padres blank Pirates

<h3>SAN DIEGO 3, PITTSBURGH 0</h3>By Tim Powers
PA Sportsticker Contributing Writer


SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Jack Cassel pitched six scoreless inningsto pick up his first big league win as the San Diego Padres cruisedto an easy 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the openerof a four-game series on Monday.


Khalil Greene hit a two-run blast for the Padres (82-67), whowon their fourth straight contest to pull within one game of theArizona Diamondbacks (83-67) in the National League West andmaintain their 1 1/2 game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies(81-69) in the wild card standings. The Diamondbacks sufferedan 8-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Monday.

Cassel (1-0) made his second career start as a fill-in for thestruggling Justin Germano, who was pulled from the startingrotation after winning just one game since the All-Star break.

"I went out there to pitch my game," Cassel said. "The coachingstaff really instilled a lot of confidence in me. My goal wasto just give us a quality start and an opportunity to stay inthe ballgame and win, and then turn it over to our incrediblebullpen."


The 27-year-old Cassel, who made his major league debut a monthago after spending nearly eight seasons in the minors, allowedeight hits with three strikeouts and no walks.


"I thought Jack threw the ball very well," Padres manager BudBlack said. "He went right at them and pitched to contact. Iliked the efficiency of the outing. He showed the same poisethat he did in his last start."


Doug Brocail and Heath Bell each contributed a scoreless inningbefore all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman collected his 38thsave of the season and 520th career.


"Everybody in that bullpen has been throwing that ballincredibly well," Cassel said. "I knew that once it was my turnto turn the ball over to the bullpen, I had all the confidencein the world that those guys would pick me up."


The combined effort gave the Padres their major league-best 20thshutout of the year.


"(Cassel) has thrown well since he's been here," Greene said. "Iplayed with him in the minor leagues for a little while and hehas paid his dues, so it's nice to see him get a chance and besuccessful."


San Diego jumped out to an early 1-0 lead against Pittsburghstarter John Van Benschoten, when Brian Giles walked to lead offthe game and scored on a double by Mike Cameron.


Greene padded the advantage with his 22nd home run of theseason, a fourth-inning shot that caromed off the second deck ofthe Western Metals Supply Co. building in left field, givingthe Padres a 3-0 edge.


Pittsburgh never mounted a serious scoring threat againstCassel, managing just one extra-base hit - a double in the fifthby Van Benschoten.


"We had baserunners, but we couldn't get follow-up hits once wehad set some stages," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "We had10 hits tonight and we don't score. I think that plus the onepitch Khalil Greene hit out of the ballpark is pretty much whatthe game boiled down to."


Van Benschoten (0-6) yielded three runs on five hits over fiveinnings. The 27-year-old righthander remained winless since the2004 season, his first and only career win. He walked threeand struck out two.


"(Van Benschoten) did a very adequate job for us," Tracy said."He gave us five pretty good innings. He hasn't started for usin a while. I think the big thing tonight was he was around thestrike zone much more often tonight. He made some pitches whenhe had to."


Xavier Nady had a pair of hits against his former club as thePirates dropped their third straight.