MINNEAPOLIS -- At the crack of the bat, San Diego Padres manager Bud Black didnt think centre fielder Alexi Amarista had a chance to get Eduardo Escobars screaming line drive. Step by blazing step, it didnt take Amarista long to give Black and the rest of his team some much-needed hope. Amarista made that game-saving catch in the bottom of the ninth inning and Seth Smith followed with a solo homer in the 10th to lift the Padres to a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday. "Then I saw Alexis route, and youre sort of watching Alexi and watching the ball," Black said. "And then in flight, you think maybe." Amarista ran backward on a dead sprint and laid out for a brilliant diving catch of the drive with two on and two outs to keep the game tied. "When he hit it, I thought game over," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We just watched their whole outfield move way in with two strikes, and he moved way in when that ball was hit, and Esco got a hold of it really nice, we thought he had no chance to catch that ball. But the young man ran it down, and it was a hell of a play." Smith had two hits and two RBIs. Joaquin Benoit picked up his fourth save in five tries and the Padres earned a split in the two-game series. Trevor Plouffe had a homer and three RBIs for the Twins. But All-Star closer Glen Perkins blew his fourth save in 32 chances this year. San Diego trailed 4-3 going into the ninth against Perkins, but Everth Cabrera tied the game with a sacrifice fly. The Padres earlier in the day hired Texas Rangers assistant GM A.J. Preller as the teams new general manager, two people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made. The speedy Amarista was a late-game defensive replacement, and what a move it was for Black. He raced a good 35 yards or more to track down Escobars hit and the Padres bench erupted when he hauled it in. Smith responded with a drive more than 400 feet off Anthony Swarzak (2-1) into the right-field stands for his 12th homer. "It was nice to win a game like that," Smith said. "Those are the games you need to win." Kevin Quackenbush (2-2) got the win. TRAINERS ROOM Padres: Yangervis Solarte came up hobbling in the sixth inning after sliding home to tie the game at 3. Solarte appeared to actually roll over a bat laying in his way as he made the slide. But he was able to finish the game at third base. Twins: Gardenhire said first baseman Joe Mauer and right-hander Ricky Nolasco both had successful debuts on their rehab stints with Class A Cedar Rapids on Tuesday night. Mauer (strained right oblique) was scheduled to play first base on Wednesday. If all goes well, Mauer will join the team in Houston next week. Gardenhire said Nolasco (elbow) "felt great" after throwing 51 pitches. He will make at least one more start before being activated. FOR STARTERS Padres right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne gave up four runs on eight hits with three walks and five strikeouts in 5 2-3 innings. It was his third straight outing allowing at least four runs and his third straight where he hasnt reached the seventh inning. "Hes been a little bit too up out over the plate for the most part," Black said. YONDER HEATS UP Alonso went 6 for 8 in the series to raise his average to .233. He was activated from the disabled list last week after dealing with right wrist tendinitis, and Black said he can see the difference. "Theres no soreness in his wrist," Black said. "His forearms, his hands, everything having to do with gripping the bat feels good. His timing is there. Hes one of the guys that we need to continue this hitting." UP NEXT Padres: San Diego is off on Thursday before opening a three-game series in Pittsburgh on Friday night. RHP Ian Kennedy (8-9, 3.59) will start the opener against Pirates RHP Vance Worley (4-1, 2.43). Twins: Minnesota starts a four-game series in Oakland on Thursday night. RHP Yohan Pino (1-3, 4.57) pitches for the Twins against newly acquired As LHP Jon Lester (11-7, 2.59). Chandler Catanzaro Jersey . Carey Price made 27 saves for Montreal (30-21-6) for his fourth shutout of the year and second in four games. David Desharnais added an empty netter for the Canadiens. Reto Berra stopped 25 shots for Calgary (21-28-7). Alex Cappa Buccaneers Jersey . Weise will have his hearing with the NHL head office over the phone, while the league has requested an in-person hearing with Kassian. Oilers centre Sam Gagner suffered a broken jaw after getting hit with a high stick from Kassian in Edmontons 5-2 win. http://www.shopbuccaneersauthentic.com/Youth-Tampa-Bay-Buccaneers-Elite-Jersey/ .? It was his second straight start for the Jets; he suffered a 1-0 loss against Minnesota Monday. So this season Hutchinson has now won games in the ECHL, AHL and NHL. He was perfect three- for-three in the shootout to nail down the win. Custom Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys . The Maple Leafs will play on the road for the first time this season after dropping home contests to Montreal and Pittsburgh to begin the campaign. After losing a one-goal decision to the Canadiens on Wednesday, they were bested 5-2 on Saturday by the Penguins. Jason Pierre-Paul Buccaneers Jersey .com) - Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll knows about life in the NFL from other stints around the league.The Montreal Canadiens follow Rene Bourques lead, Pavel Datsyuk makes the difference for the Red Wings and Ryan Getzlaf makes the difference for the Ducks. Scott Cullen looks at Friday nights NHL playoff games. HABS FOLLOW BOURQUE Canadiens LW Rene Bourque, who has scored 21 goals and 37 points in 128 regular season games for Montreal since arriving in a trade from Calgary, scored a pair of goals to pace the Montreal attack in a comfortable 4-1 win at Tampa Bay, giving the Habs a 2-0 series lead. Both of Bourques goals required significant individual effort, allowing him to remind people that hes a three-time 20-goal scorer -- that he had been known to finish on occasion before he joined the Canadiens. While Bourques contribution counts as something of a surprise, the Canadiens also took advantage of what was supposed to be their greatest advantage coming into the series: goaltending. Carey Price stopped 26 of 27 shots, his shutout broken with less than two minutes remaining on a Teddy Purcell power play goal. In Tampas net, Anders Lindback was yanked after allowing three goals on 23 shots, replaced by rookie Kristers Gudlevskis, who allowed one goal on three shots. Lightning coach Jon Cooper downplayed any goalending controversy but, as expected, the non-Ben Bishop options arent ideal for the Lightning. The unfortunate part for the Lightning is that they had a relatively strong possession game. Defencemen Mike Kostka and Eric Brewer, along with forwards J.T. Brown, Cedric Paquette and Nikita Kucherov all had a Corsi percentage of 66.7% or better, meaning that at least two of every three shot attempts were in the Lightnings favour with those players on the ice. The funny thing is that the Montreal line that was torched, possession wise, was Lars Eller, Brian Gionta and the aforementioned Rene Bourque. The Habs are up two games to none and going home, with the Lightning having a clear deficit in goal. Its a favourable situation for Montreal, but they cant get complacent. MAGIC ACT The top-seeded Boston Bruins were upset in Game One, as Detroits Pavel Datsyuk scored a spectacular goal with 3:01 remaining in the third period, to give the Red Wings a 1-0 win in the game and 1-0 lead in the series. While the Wings had every right to believe they could compete with Boston coming into the game, its one thing to believe it and another to carry 58% of the possession play on the road against the Presidents Trophy winners. The Bruins were missing defencemen Matt Bartkowski and Kevan Miller, which resulted in Corey Potter and Andrej Meszaros playing; both were break-even in possession terms. The real tough night for the Bruins came for the top line of Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Jarome Iginla. They were matched up against the Red Wings line of Riley Sheahan, Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist, with Danny DeKeyser and Kyle Quincey on defence.dddddddddddd Sheahan had better than 70% Corsi% to lead all skaters. Even Bruins stalwart D Zdeno Chara had a 35.1% Corsi%; he had a Corsi% lower than that twice all season, both in games against the San Jose Sharks games this season. Chara spent his night matched against Datsyuk and the edge clearly went to Datsyuk. Naturally, in a 1-0 game, the goaltenders played well. While thats pretty standard for Vezina favourite Tuukka Rask in the Boston net, Detroits Jimmy Howard had an uneven season, but he allowed two goals in each of his last five starts, before opening the playoffs with a 25-save shutout. In 43 career playoff games, Howard has a .919 save percentage, which ranks seventh among active goaltenders (Rask, incidentally, ranks second). Detroit utilized their depth. Everyone in the lineup played at least 12 minutes -- Daniel Alfredsson, at 12:14, played the least for the Wings -- and, as a result, their top four defencemen were the only ones to play more than 20 minutes. It wasnt easy for the Wings, but their Game One performance showed a template for how they can push the Bruins in this series; use a disciplined, puck-control game and dont get caught up in Bostons aggressive physical game. DUCK AND COVER The Anaheim Ducks held on for a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars, taking a 2-0 series lead. Ducks C Ryan Getzlaf, playing with facial protection after taking a Tyler Seguin slapshot in the cheek late in Game One, led the Ducks effort, scoring a goal and adding an assist. RW Corey Perry also scored for the Ducks and stands contrast to the performance of the Stars Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, who have not had the same kind of impact. The games puck possession metrics were tilted dramatically by score effects, after the Ducks took a 3-1 lead, as Anaheim held a decided edge in score-close possession, but the Stars led in 5-on-5 possession numbers overall after outshooting the Ducks 15-2 in the third period. Ducks LW Matt Beleskey missed Game Two, with a lower-body injury, creating an opportunity for Devante Smith-Pelly to skate on the top line with Getzlaf and Perry. Stars LW Ryan Garbutt, who scored the Stars second goal, registered eight unblocked shot attempts in just 9:53 of ice time. In the end, Stars G Kari Lehtonen allowed three goals on 19 shots, while Ducks rookie G Frederik Andersen stopped 34 of 36. If the lower-seeded Stars are going to get back in the series, and harbour hopes for an upset, they need to win the goaltending battle and have Seguin and Benn contribute at a level closer to Getzlaf and Perry. Otherwise, the hill will be awfully steep. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. 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