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Feldman tosses complete game, Cubs beat Padres

CHICAGO -- Scott Feldman wasn't supposed to work nine innings on Wednesday but it didn't take a lot of convincing to get a shot at his first career complete game.

"Originally the plan was for me to throw eight and I went back and asked skip (Cubs manager Dale Sveum) if I could get a crack at a CG. I've never had one."

Feldman (2-3) gave up a solo home run in the ninth but otherwise worked nine efficient innings as the Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres, 6-2.

"It's something I've wanted to do for a while and it always seemed like my pitch count got up or I got taken out before it could happen."

Feldman also tossed the Cubs first complete game of the season as he gave up three hits, two earned runs while striking out 12 and walking one.

"It was probably as pure and crisp as you can imagine out of a guy that doesn't throw 98 miles per hour," Sveum said. "That was pretty impressive."

The Cubs hit San Diego right-hander Andrew Cashner for runs in each of the first four innings.

Feldman, meanwhile, allowed a first-inning single then otherwise kept the Padres off base until Jedd Gyorko's eighth inning solo home run. Chase Headley added a one-out homer in the ninth with none on.

Leadoff better David DeJesus went 2-for-5, Dioner Navarro was 1-for-4 with a home run and two RBI while Feldman was 1-for-3 with an RBI double as the Cubs claimed a 2-1 series lead.

"Just close my eyes and swing," Feldman answered when asked about his RBI double. "That's my motto."

Gyorko's homer was the first of his major-league career.

"I was glad to get it over with," Gyorko said. "Hopefully it won't take another 100 at-bats to get my next one, but obviously it's good to get that first one out of the way."

Cashner (1-2) left after four innings and Padres reliever Anthony Bass worked four innings, giving up an RBI double to Nate Schierholtz in the seventh that drove home Starlin Castro for a 6-0 Chicago lead.

"He wasn't on tonight, you could tell right from the get-go," Padres manager Bud Black said of Cashner. "He couldn't get any momentum started. His pitches were in-and-out of the strike zone way too much. He could never get in a groove."

The Cubs went with a predominantly left-handed lineup against Cashner.

"You could see that he was going to his off-speed stuff a lot," Sveum said. "When you have seven left-handers in a lineup you can't keep pumping fastballs."

Cashner, meanwhile, struggled through his four innings of work. He threw 96 pitches and allowed 11 base runners -- including six hits, four walks and a hit batter -- as the Cubs opened a 5-0 lead.

"I felt like I was fighting the whole time," he said. "I never really got in a groove out there and didn't really execute very well."

Castro's two-out single to center in the first scored Julio Borbon, but the Padres avoided a worse fate. Cashner loaded the bases but worked out the jam when Anthony Rizzo was called out at home on a runner's fielder's choice.

Feldman helped his own cause in the second. His one-out double into the right-field corner scored Darwin Barney for a 2-0 lead.

With runners on first and third and one out in the third, Navarro delivered a two-run double to the center-field wall for a 4-0 Cubs' lead. In the fifth, Borbon walked, advanced to third on Cashner's throwing error and scored on Valbuena's grounder to short to make it 5-0.

NOTES: Cubs owner Tom Ricketts unveiled an ambitious plan to upgrade 99-year-old Wrigley Field on Wednesday but also threatened to move the team if a proposed 6,000-square-foot video scoreboard and other signage is not approved by the city. A spokesman later described Ricketts' comments as a worst-case scenario. The Ricketts family would pay for a $300 million renovation and $200 in neighborhood improvements. ... Left-handed reliever James Russell didn't give up a run in 11 innings and 14 appearances in April, the first Cubs reliever since Ted Abernathy in 1969 with a scoreless opening month. ... The Padres' 13 runs on Tuesday was the most they've ever scored at Wrigley Field dating back to the club's founding in 1969. Seventeen hits tied a club record as every Padres starter collected at least one hit. ... After starting the season 2-10, San Diego has won five of its last six and seven of its last 14 games. ... Over the Padres' 17 games through Wednesday, catcher Nick Hundley was hitting .375 (34-of-101) with 10 extra base hits. ... The Cubs send left-hander Travis Wood (2-1) against Padres lefty Eric Stults (2-2) in Thursday's series finale, the only day contest in the four-game series.