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SAN DIEGO -- For one day at least, the moderate-payroll San Diego Padres are in first place in the NL West, ahead of the big-spending Los Angeles Dodgers. Seth Smith hit a towering drive for a tying homer leading off the eighth and Chris Denorfia singled home two runs to give the Padres a 3-1 victory against the rival Dodgers in baseballs North American opener Sunday night. Smiths first hit with the Padres came on a 2-0 pitch from Brian Wilson, who started the eighth after Hyun-Jin Ryu threw seven scoreless innings. It sailed an estimated 360 feet into the right-field seats. It was his seventh career pinch-hit homer. He was acquired in an off-season trade with Oakland for reliever Luke Gregerson. Wilson (0-1) walked pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal, who advanced when the veteran reliever couldnt handle Everth Cabreras bunt for an error. Grandal stole third and Cabrera took second on indifference before Denorfia hit a bouncer up the middle to bring them both in. "Theyre all just one game, but when youre facing a team like the Dodgers, full of great players, Brian Wilson, a guy who knows how to get it done in those situations, its not easy to do what our hitters did," said Huston Street, who pitched a perfect ninth for the save. "To come back and get three right there in that situation, especially after leaving guys on base early, thats what this team is going to have to do to win. Were going to have to battle all year long." The Dodgers set a record with an opening-day payroll of $234 million. The Padres are 23rd at just under $90 million. Street said he has no problem with the discrepancy. "Theyve got a lot of talent and their talent has earned those salaries," Street said. "Theyre not just given. At the same time, a lot of guys in this locker room are young guys. They havent hit that free agency mark. They havent hit those big salary years. We could be sitting on a higher payroll team. You dont worry about it too much just because baseball is such a game of execution." Dale Thayer (1-0) pitched a perfect eighth for the win. Smith was acquired to provide a left-handed bat off the bench. He went deep on a cutter. "You get in the box and its an at-bat," he said. "As a professional ballplayer you hope that you can kind of flush the fact that its your first at-bat with your team or its in a big spot or whatever, and just do what youve been practicing for the last six weeks." Wilson said it was tough to deal with because Ryu "pitched such a marvelous game. Its a hard one to swallow." He said he threw a pitch "that was a little bit uncharacteristic of me. Right then and there, the tire deflated." The defending NL West champion Dodgers had started the regular season with a two-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks in Sydney. Ryu got the start after reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw was scratched due to a swollen back muscle and then placed on the 15-day disabled list for the first time in his seven-year career. In a scheduling quirk, the left-hander started consecutive regular-season games. He made his season debut a week earlier, when the Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks in their second game in Australia. Ryu retired 16 in a row from the second inning until one out in the seventh. He then walked rookie Tommy Medica, who was then erased in a 3-6-3 double play. Ryu allowed three hits, struck out seven and walked three. The Dodgers grabbed the lead on a nice piece of hitting by Carl Crawford with two out in the fifth. Crawford went the other way with an 0-2 pitch from Andrew Cashner, hitting it over third baseman Chase Headley to bring in Dee Gordon from second. Gordon had reached on a walk and advanced when Cashner fielded Ryus bunt and forced A.J. Ellis at third. Cashner allowed four hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked two. NOTES: The Padres renamed the broadcast portion of the press box the Jerry Coleman Broadcast Center in memory of the Hall of Fame broadcaster who died on Jan. 5 at 89. His widow, Maggie, and daughter, Chelsea, threw out the ceremonial first pitches. ... Sunday nights attendance of 45,567 set the Petco Park single-game record. ... Padres manager Bud Black said LF Carlos Quentins time on the disabled list will go beyond April 10, when hed be eligible to be activated. He was placed on the DL on Saturday, retroactive to March 25, with a bone bruise in his left knee. Quentin was hurt diving for a ball in a spring training game. ... Monday is an off day. Tuesdays scheduled starters are Zack Greinke for Los Angeles and Ian Kennedy for San Diego. Stitched Rays Jerseys . Founding members of the Genie Army, a group of Eugenie Bouchard supporters who cheered for the rising tennis star during the Australian Open in January, will be in the city for the Rogers Cup, beginning this weekend. Emilio Pagan Jersey . Ricciardos exclusion from the results tarnished what had been a day of celebration for local fans, who were jubilant that the Red Bull driver had apparently become the first Australian to finish on the podium at his home race. However just before midnight, stewards ruled that Ricciardos car had "exceeded consistently the maximum allowed fuel flow" and that the team refused an instruction from the races technical delegate Charlie Whiting to change the fuel-flow sensor before the race and a further request during the race to reduce the fuel flow. https://www.cheapraysonline.com/1036i-ho...ersey-rays.html. An offseason trade acquisition from Kansas City, Greinkes National League debut was delayed by a non-baseball injury in the spring, and he was 0-1 after dropping an 8-0 decision at Atlanta in his initial appearance with the Brewers on May 4. Cole Sulser Rays Jersey . "Youre next." Hardly. Iguodala tormented his former team with a game better than any he ever played in eight seasons with the 76ers. Brent Honeywell Rays Jersey . - Loosening up for their first training camp practice, the Miami Dolphins high-stepped sideways up and down the field while House of Pains song "Jump Around" blared on the loudspeakers.HOUSTON -- C.J. Wilson had a simple plan for his second start after a dud in his season debut. "Just told myself Im going to pick my spot and stay with my spot and not try to overdo it," Wilson said. It was an effective approach, allowing him to pitch eight solid innings while Howie Kendrick and Raul Ibanez each drove in three runs to send the Los Angeles Angels over the Houston Astros 9-1 Monday. The Angels took three of four from Houston after starting the season 0-3. Wilson (1-1) yielded four hits and a run while fanning seven. He looked a lot more like the 17-game winner he was last year than he did in his first start this season when he gave up eight hits and six runs in 5 2-3 innings of a loss to Seattle. In that game, he said, all the hits in that game came when "I basically overthrew or did something mechanically wrong." He didnt have that problem Monday. "I was able to throw curveballs for strikes and changeups for strikes, which was big," Wilson said. "I only threw a couple sliders because I didnt really need to." Houston struggled to get anything going off of him. Jesus Guzman doubled with one out in the second before Wilson retired nine in a row. A double by Chris Carter came with one out in the fifth inning, and Wilson sat down 10 straight after that. The Astros finally got on the board when Carlos Corporan launched a 76 mph curveball into the Crawford Boxes in left field for a home run that made it 8-1. "First-pitch strikes were huge for him and when he did get behind in the count he was able to command some off-speed pitches to get back into the count," manager Mike Scioscia said. "He couldnt have really done a much better job than he did." Though he didnt need his slider to keep the Astros off-balance, he did pull out a seldom-used pitch once to try and handle Guzman. "His third at-bat I threw him a knuckleball because I literally had no idea what to throw him," Wilson said. Kendrick drove in two with a single in a three-run first inning. He added an RBI with a single when the Angels tacked on three more in the seventh. Kole&nnbsp;Calhoun homered off Jarred Cosart (1-1), sending a drive to right field for his second shot of the series to push the lead to 4-0 in the fifth inning.dddddddddddd Cosart was done in by a bad first inning where he had to use 32 pitches. He was pulled after allowing three hits, five runs and walking four in six innings. It was a disappointing second start for the 23-year-old who threw five scoreless frames for the win in his 2014 debut against the Yankees. "I spotted them three runs and with a lineup like that and with a team like that you cant do that," he said. "Its hard for our team to play from behind obviously. I kind of had us back on our heels." A pair of walks and a fielders choice loaded the bases with one out in the first inning for Cosart. A broken-bat groundout by Ibanez sent one home to make it 1-0. Carter had to navigate around the flying piece of bat that stuck in the dirt right near where he fielded the ball. Kendricks single to shallow right field pushed the lead to 3-0 in the first. Cosart settled down after the first, pitching a perfect second before walking two in a scoreless third and retiring the side in the fourth. Stewart hit a triple with one out in the sixth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Iannetta that made it 5-0. Ibanez drove home two with a single to right field off reliever Brad Peacock in the seventh. NOTES: Houston CF Dexter Fowler was out of the lineup for the fourth straight game because of a stomach virus. Fowler, who spent Friday night at Methodist Hospital and was released Saturday, returned to the ballpark on Monday. He said he was feeling better but was still very weak. The already slim Fowler said he knows he has lost some weight but hadnt stepped on the scale because he didnt want to know how much hed dropped. Manager Bo Porter isnt sure when hell return to the lineup. ... Los Angeles LHP Hector Santiago opposes Seattles James Paxton when the Angels open a series against the Mariners on Tuesday. ... The Astros send LHP Brett Oberholtzer to the mound against Mark Buerhle when they open a series at Toronto on Tuesday. ' ' '