Rodney just misses out on Padres record

SAN DIEGO -- In the end, the only thing that came between Fernando Rodney and a 41-year-old Padres record was the back-right corner of the first-base bag at Camden Yards.
Rodney -- who was one out away from running his streak of consecutive innings without an earned run to 26 2/3 -- had his shot at franchise history snapped when Pedro Alvarez's seemingly routine chopper hit the base and bounced between the legs of Wil Myers. The play was ruled a hit, and Rodney had to settle for his 15th save of the season in a 10-7 Padres victory over Baltimore.
 

Padres legend Randy Jones set the club record for most consecutive innings without an earned run to start a season, with 26 in 1975. Jones -- who was actively rooting for Rodney to break his mark -- may have to wait a few days to see if his record is safe, however.
Although it seems highly unlikely that Myers would be assessed an error on a ground ball that hit the bag, the Padres will consider appealing the ruling.
"That's not beneath me," said Padres manager Andy Green with a wry smile. "That's something that I think is possible."
Count Myers among those pulling for a scoring change.
"If it helps my teammate get the record ... I would take an error, for sure, 1,000 percent," said Myers, advocating for an "E" that would be his first of the season.
But even Green acknowledged that the case for an error isn't a good one.
"It's bad luck -- right off the base," Green said. "Love to see [Myers] get an error, but I don't think we have much of an argument there. That's just one of those lucky bounces for them, an unlucky bounce for Rodney. He's been unbelievable."
No kidding.
Rodney ran into some trouble right away in the ninth Tuesday, allowing a leadoff walk to Hyun Soo Kim and a one-out double to Chris Davis. But for the most part, he's kept opponents off the basepaths all season.
In his 26 2/3 frames this year, Rodney has allowed just 13 hits, and Davis' two-bagger was just the second that has gone for extra bases. After Alvarez's fluke single, the Orioles became just the third team with multiple hits in the same inning against Rodney.
"I went to go make the play, and the ball hit the bag and took off to the left on me," Myers said. "Obviously, if I could do it over again, I would've sprinted to get it before the bag. ... For him to take an earned run like that, it's tough. Even I felt terrible about it."
Rodney, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind.
"If you see what happened, it was something you can't predict would happen," he said of the record-snapping hit. "That's baseball. ... I feel good, because we win, I get a save."

Rodney got that save because he entered in the bottom of the eighth inning of a one-run game, with the bases loaded. He needed two pitches to get Adam Jones -- a changeup that Jones pulled foul, and a fastball that he tapped weakly to second.
That's the precise pitch mix that has made Rodney so effective this season -- a bugs-bunny change and perfectly located heat.
"Couldn't ask for anything more from him," Green said. "You just wish there wasn't a blemish on his ERA right now."
Although Rodney had thrown 26 1/3 frames before he allowed his first earned run, he does not receive credit for the record because he was unable to complete the scoreless inning. Essentially, a pitcher does not get credit for any fraction of an inning if he allowed an earned run in that inning.
Not that Rodney's about to get hung up on the semantics.
"The most important thing," Rodney said, "[is] getting a win, coming from behind, scoring a lot of runs."
The Padres did all three of those things Tuesday. Now they'll have to wait and see if their closer has a record.