SAN DIEGO — Of all the balls that flew out of Petco Park on Sunday, the one that had the biggest impact was Jedd Gyorko's 438-foot drive to straightaway center field that helped the San Diego Padres beat the Colorado Rockies 8-5.
Gyorko was hitting just .145 when he stepped into the batter's box as a pinch hitter. The Rockies had just replaced lefty reliever Christian Friedrich with Brooks Brown because Gyorko was only 2 for 39 against righties.
Gyorko squared up and drove a 1-1 pitch almost to the base of the batter's eye.
"I definitely like May better than April," said Gyorko, whose struggles at the plate have cost him playing time at second base.