SAN DIEGO _ Play stopped for more than 10 minutes late Thursday afternoon at Petco Park. A bat had inadvertently flown out of Hector Sanchez's hands and hurtled over the visiting dugout. A woman sitting in the second row had been struck in the forehead.
Ushers and medical personnel rushed to her side. Sanchez, the Padres catcher, looked distraught. Eventually, the woman was wheeled out to applause and even a few high-fives. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Later, a fan who had helped tend to the woman was escorted out of the stadium in handcuffs.
Owing to the above events, baseball had taken a backseat before the Colorado Rockies claimed a 3-2, 11-inning victory.
The Padres were stymied by left-hander Kyle Freeland and a collection of missed opportunities. They went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11.
They did scrape together a couple of late runs, extending a game that would be delayed before it went into extras.
In the seventh, Hunter Renfroe ended Freeland's shutout bid with a run-scoring double.
With the bases loaded in the eighth, Yangervis Solarte hustled down the first-base line on a weak grounder. The tying run scored on the fielder's choice.
Sanchez's bat went flying with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Standing behind home plate, his eyes fixed above the visiting dugout, he agonized as both teams and a sparse crowd hoped for the best. After play resumed, he popped out.
In the bottom of the 10th, Wil Myers dropped a leadoff bunt single. Reliever Brad Hand's sacrifice bunt moved Myers to second. He remained there because of a pair of fly outs.
Ryan Hanigan's RBI single in the 11th provided what would be the winning run.
Luis Perdomo threw six innings of one-run ball for the Padres.
