SAN FRANCISCO _ Joey Lucchesi has been working faster, pitching better.
"I think the most important thing I'm doing differently is my rhythm," he said after beating the Red Sox last Sunday. "I'm just telling myself, 'Frick everything. Just get on the mound and go.' "
At the suggestion of pitching coach Darren Balsley, Lucchesi has been leaving the rubber less frequently, getting set quicker, taking less time between pitches.
Saturday night, it worked even longer.
His working through a jam in the sixth inning kept the game tied before Manny Machado's triple and Josh Naylor's single in the eighth inning put the Padres up for good in what ended up a 4-1 victory over the Giants at Oracle Park.
After Lucchesi got an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the sixth, Craig Stammen worked a scoreless seventh and eighth. Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning to extend his major league lead with his 39th save.
The Padres have a chance Sunday, on the first day of the season's final month, to win just their third series (of 15) in the second half.
Lucchesi getting through six innings for the second time in three starts and the 10th time in his 26 starts this season is what the Padres were relishing at night's end.
The 26-year-old left-hander is almost a sure thing to go five innings, having done so all but four starts this season. But most often due to his having one bloated inning that drives up his pitch count and sometimes due to circumstance, going much further has proved elusive.
Green had removed Lucchesi at the same point in his start against the Red Sox _ after five innings, having thrown the same number of pitches and allowing one run.
"I was like, 'Shoot, man.' I know we've got a pitch limit, but that was pretty low," Lucchesi said that day, reasoning he could have gone two more innings. "... I want to get more, dude."
His removal then had nothing to do with limiting his workload. It had everything to do with the Red Sox's 3-4-5 hitters coming up, one of them having hit a home run off Lucchesi earlier, and with Lucchesi possessing a 9.27 ERA in the sixth inning this season.
Saturday, the Giants' sixth began with clean-up hitter Evan Longoria, far less dangerous than Boston slugger J.D. Martinez.
It wasn't certain. As Naylor crossed home plate to tie the game1-1 in the top of the sixth, Luis Perdomo was sent to the bullpen to start warming up.
But when the Padres couldn't add on and the inning ended with Lucchesi's spot in the batting order due up next, Perdomo put on his jacket and returned to the dugout while Lucchesi walked out to start the sixth.
He got Longoria on a fly ball to right before Buster Posey reached on slow roller to Greg Garcia at second base and Joey Rickard grounded a single through the left side. That brought out Green to talk to Lucchesi before he left him in to face left-handed hitting Brandon Belt.
Lucchesi got ahead of Belt 0-1 before throwing four straight balls to load the bases.
With Perdomo ready, Green stuck with Lucchesi to face right-handed hitter Maurico Dubon. The Giants rookie grounded a 1-1 sinker up the middle, directly at Garcia, who stepped on the bag and threw to first base.
That sent Lucchesi hopping off the mound, jabbing both arms in front of him and hollering.
He was finished after 102 pitches, having allowed eight hits, including Austin Slater's first-inning home run.
The Padres got two-out singles from Nick Martini and Machado in the first inning, a leadoff single by Margot in the second before he was picked off, a two-out single by Martini and a walk by Machado in the third and a leadoff single by Austin Hedges in the fifth before finally tying the game in the fifth.
Naylor lined a two-out double to left-center field and scored on Margot's single to center.
Naylor was on the other end of the Padres' second run, reaching out to poke a single into left field two batters after Machado had led off the eighth inning with a triple to right-center field.
Wil Myers, who pinch-hit for Lucchesi in the seventh and stayed in the game playing left field, extended the Padres' lead by following another Hedges single with his 15th homer of the season in the ninth inning.
