PHOENIX -- By locking into the fastball, Will Venable sets himself up for the breaking balls. [url=http://www.shoptheraidersonline.com/Elite-Jihad-Ward-Raiders-Jersey /]Jihad Ward Jersey[/url] . And when those pitches come, particularly up in the zone, he hasnt been missing many. Venable drove in the

PHOENIX -- By locking into the fastball, Will Venable sets himself up for the breaking balls. Jihad Ward Jersey . And when those pitches come, particularly up in the zone, he hasnt been missing many. Venable drove in the first of San Diegos two runs in the first inning and hit a two-run homer to cushion the lead, helping the Padres avoid a three-game sweep with a 5-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night. "Wills doing a good job of capitalizing on the high breaking ball, the mistake breaking ball, hes not missing it," Padres manager Bud Black said. Venable has been on a tear since August started, putting together a 15-game hitting streak and a current run of eight straight games. Against the Diamondbacks, he hit a run-scoring single off Wade Miley (9-9) in the first inning and later scored on Jesus Guzmans run-scoring single. With the game still close in the eighth, Venable helped give the padding San Diego needed, lifting a two-run homer off Heath Bell to become the first Padres outfielder to hit 20 homers in a season since Mike Cameron in 2007. "Just being ready for fastball for every pitch, just puts your body and your eyes in a position to recognize those pitches and continue on and make your swing," said Venable, whos hitting .390 with eight homers in August. "Hitting those off-speed pitches, thats just a product of being ready for the fastball." Guzman also hit a solo homer and Robbie Erlin (2-2) was sharp in his return to the majors, holding Arizona to a run and six hits. Miley was effective after his early troubles, but the Diamondbacks gave him little support, stranding 10 runners while going 1-for 8 with runners in scoring position. Willie Bloomquist had three hits, drove in a run and made some tough plays at shortstop in his first game off the disabled list for Arizona, which had its five-game home winning streak end. "We had some opportunities, but were unable to get the big hit, extra-base hit when we needed it," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. The series finale was relatively quiet after Tuesdays wild game of lead changes, hits (26) and lineup shuffling, including a major league-record five different third basemen used by the Padres. Erlin had a lot to do with it after being called up to take the rotation spot of Edinson Volquez, who was designated for assignment on Saturday. The young left-hander struggled in his last appearance with the Padres, allowing four runs in four innings in a loss to Washington on July 7. Erlin had pitched well before that, though, and was good early to start his fourth stint in the majors, working around a couple of baserunners in the third and fourth innings. Erlin got himself into a little trouble in the sixth, when he walked Eric Chavez with two outs and gave up a single to Aaron Hill. Bloomquist, who had been out since being hit on the left hand by a pitch on July 26, followed with a single to right to cut San Diegos lead to 2-1. "I really just try to keep it simple, throw strikes," Erlin said after his first win since beating Toronto on July 1. "It just comes down to executing. Executing gets outs." Miley has been good since the start of July, going 5-1 with a 2.26 ERA in 10 starts. He wasnt particularly fortunate over his previous three starts, earning three straight no-decisions despite allowing seven earned runs in 21 innings. Mileys tough luck continued. He struggled early against the Padres, giving up a leadoff single to Chris Denorfia, a run-scoring double to Venable and a run-scoring single to Guzman to fall behind 2-0 in the first inning. The left-hander worked through three baserunners in the second inning before settling into a rhythm. He allowed two runs on seven hits and walked five in seven innings, but still lost for the first time in seven home starts. "I thought I made some pretty good pitches in the first inning," Miley said. "They did a pretty good job of putting some balls in play and hitting the ball hard. Thats the way it goes." NOTES: Diamondbacks 1B Paul Goldschmidt was given the night off after 47 straight starts. ... Arizona RHP Will Harris, outfielder/baserunning co-ordinator Joel Youngblood and Padres OF Carlos Quentin all shared a birthday on Wednesday. Quentin, on the DL since Aug. 10, will have surgery on his right knee and is done for the season. ... Arizona has Thursday off before opening a three-game series at San Francisco. RHP Randall Delgado, who will start the opener, is 3-1 with a 3.83 ERA his last seven starts. ... San Diego also has Thursday off before LHP Erick Stults faces LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu in the opener of a three-game series against the Dodgers. Clive Walford Jersey . Radulov scored the lone goal in the shootout, and the Predators edged the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Tuesday night to reach 100 points for the second time in three seasons and fourth in seven. Tyrell Adams Jersey . Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Raptors have traded forward Steve Novak along with a second-round pick to the Utah Jazz in exchange for guard Diante Garrett - who will then be waived. http://www.shoptheraidersonline.com/Elite-Jelani-Jenkins-Raiders-Jersey/ . Al Horford said all he had to do was make the catch near the basket and then shoot a soft jumper.MADRID, Spain -- Second-ranked Li Na started her Madrid Open campaign by overcoming a stubborn opponent just as third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska did to reach the second round on Monday. Lis clay debut began with an encouraging 6-1, 7-6 (7) victory over Belgiums Kirsten Flipkens before Radwanska also advanced thanks to a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Canadas Eugenie Bouchard. Li, the Australian Open champion, survived two set points by Flipkens, and eventually took the tiebreaker to avoid another surprise first-round exit like last year. Li goes up against fellow Chinese player Zheng Jie next. Bouchard came out on the losing end of a tough match against third-ranked Radwanska, as the Polish player earned her 25th match win of the season. "The tiebreak was the biggest key," said Radwanska, who goes on to play Svetlana Kuznetsova. "I did a couple of good shots in the tiebreak and managed to win that, and that gave me more confidence in the second set." Kuznetsova held off Alize Cornet of France 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 as the Russian continued her good run, including reaching the final in Portugal on Saturday. Also, Caroline Wozniacki was a 6-2, 6-2 victor over Ekaterina Makarova while Spanish player Carla Suarez Navarro followed up from winning her first career title in Portugal with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 win over Yvonne Meusburger of Austria. Ninth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia was bounced 6-4, 6-0 by Samantha Stosur of Australia. A minutes silencee was scheduled to be held at the Magic Boxs Manolo Santana centre court before the evening match in remembrance of Elena Baltacha, a former top-50 British womens player who died of liver cancer on Sunday. Marquette King Jersey. In mens first-round play, ninth-seeded John Isner beat Russian qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-6 (8), 6-4, with the American securing the only break in a match heavy on baseline groundstrokes. Kei Nishikori followed up his Barcelona Open triumph with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Ivan Dodig of Croatia. Nishikori said working with former French Open champion Michael Chang boosted his confidence on this surface as he won his first career clay title in Barcelona. "I did well last week in Barcelona and Im getting better on clay, so hopefully I can go further this week," the 12th-ranked Japanese player said. "There was just one bad game, on my serve at 3-2 in the second set. Otherwise, it was an almost perfect match." Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, while Gilles Simon emerged from another all-French matchup, after Benoit Paire retired, to play Roger Federer next. Stanislas Wawrinka, who is looking to follow-up his Monte Carlos Masters triumph, opens in the Spanish capital against Dominic Thiem after the Austrian beat Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4, 6-2.