SAN DIEGO_Brett Kennedy's second impression was better than his first.
But not by much.
Freddy Galvis Jr. homered in his career-best third straight game, all the support the San Diego Padres 24-year-old rookie enjoyed before Justin Upton blasted a 435-foot home run en route to the Angels' 7-3 win Tuesday night at Petco Park.
Kennedy allowed five runs on nine hits and a walk in five innings.
Four of those hits went for extra bases but only one _ Upton's monstrous shot to left-center _ left the yard this time.
That alone was an improvement after Kennedy served up three straight blasts to the Milwaukee Brewers in the first inning of last week's big league debut, a first in MLB history.
"The first one _ you don't read much into," Padres manager Andy Green said before Tuesday's game. " ... I want to see him go after guys. You can say that about just everybody, but when guys come up from the minor leagues sometimes there's a passivity that they want to be perfect, they want to be too fine.
"He needs to trust his stuff. It's going to play here."
At least that's what the Padres are trying to find out these last weeks of the season.
The Padres had already banished one rookie � Walker Lockett � to Triple-A El Paso after three ineffective turns in the rotation. Kennedy appears to have a longer leash after posting a 2.72 ERA as a Pacific Coast League All-Star, but he's occupying a precious spot in a rotation � even if it is six deep at the moment _ that could welcome rookie Eric Lauer back as soon as next week.
Bryan Mitchell (elbow) could also re-emerge as an option for starts provided a fourth rehab appearance with Lake Elsinore this week goes well. Luis Perdomo (shoulder) is a bit further behind.
So it was imperative that Kennedy put a disastrous first start in his rearview mirror.
Really, he had nowhere to go but up after allowing six runs in four innings in last week's debut in Milwaukee.
On the bright side, Kennedy allowed just one run over the final three innings of that start.
The first eight hits Tuesday stayed in the yard.
But after Eric Hosmer started a 3-6-3 double play to help him out of the first, Kennedy paid for the three straight hits he gave up to start the second, the last a two-run double from Taylor Ward in his first major league at-bat.
Eric Young Jr. extended the Angels' lead to 3-0 with an RBI groundout in the fourth before Upton's two-run homer erased Galvis' fourth-inning solo shot.
Upton added a RBI single in the seventh off Robert Stock, giving him eight hits in 19 at-bats since he left the Padres via free agency after the 2015 season.
Galvis hit a grand slam in Sunday's win over the Philadelphia Phillies, hit a solo shot Monday and another Tuesday. He started the day with a .289/.337/.530 batting line since the All-Star break and has six homers over his last 23 games.
Galvis hit four in his first 99 of the season.
"I thought Freddy's been swinging the bat really well since he came back from the all-star break," Green said. "I think the at-bats have been really good from Freddy across the board. He went through a little bit of a lull for a short period of time, but I think his at-bats have been markedly better the last month."
The Padres scored two runs immediately after Angels rookie Jaime Barria (5 IP, 1 ER, 7 Ks) exited the game _ one on Cory Spangenberg's triple and another on Manuel Margot's sacrifice fly.
The sixth inning ended with Noe Ramirez fanning pinch-hitter Franmil Reyes with a runner on first in a 5-3 game.
Facing the Angels' injury-depleted lineup coupled with Petco Park figured to provide Kennedy with a soft landing for his second start.
Two-time AL MVP Mike Trout is on the disabled list, Albert Pujols had the night off and the last three position players in the order _ Kaleb Cowart, Ward and Young _ all faced Kennedy earlier this year in the Pacific Coast League, where Kennedy allowed two runs in 18 innings against the Angels' Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake.
Kennedy was 10-0 with a 2.72 ERA and 80 strikeouts as a PCL All-Star but has allowed 20 hits _ and a lot of them hard _ through his first nine innings in the majors. He has struck out only five.
