RENO, Nev. -- Andres Romero birdied his last four holes Friday to take the second-round lead in the Reno-Tahoe Open with 22 points in the modified-Stableford scoring event on a Sierra Nevada layout that reminds him of the mountain courses in his native Argentina. Romero, who finished third at Reno last year, had nine birdies, a bogey and a double bogey for a one-point lead over Gary Woodland. The scoring system awards eight points for double eagle, five for eagle, two for birdie, zero for par, minus-one for bogey and minus-three for double bogey or worse. Woodland, who started the day in second place with 14 points, had a chance to take the lead on his last hole Friday when his 90-yard approach to the par-4 ninth rolled and glanced off the pin, but he missed the 5-foot birdie putt coming back. Stuart Appleby, Rod Pampling and Charlie Wi, who played his freshman year at Nevada, were three off the lead with 19 points, followed by Greg Chalmers, Chris Knost and Brian Harman at 18. David Toms was in a group with 17. Ottawas Brad Fritsch had three birdies, an eagle and bogey for 10 points, leaving him with nine points. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., missed the cut, finishing at minus-5. "The (scoring) system is really good for me," said Romero, who birdied four of his first six holes and five of his last six. "I feel very comfortable here. Makes me remember to home, you know?" he said with his caddie translating. "Last week I made 22 birdies and two eagles. If you made all those birdies here and eagles, its very good for you." Woodland overcame three bogeys with five birdies -- three in a row during the middle of his back nine beginning with his approach 183 yards to inside 2 feet on the 491-yard, par-4 fifth. He hit inside a foot for a tap-in on the 477-yard sixth and made a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-3 seventh. "Today was a struggle," said Woodland, one of the longer drivers in the field who was hitting middle irons into the par 5s on Thursday. "Today I was punching out, laying up, so it was frustrating from that standpoint," he said. "But I hit some good shots coming in and I got myself into the golf tournament and Im getting into a good position going into the weekend." The swirling, gusty wind that had players reaching back to their bags repeatedly on Thursday eased significantly most of the day at the 7,472-yard Montreux Golf Club. But Appleby said he still was having difficulty reading putts in the mountainous terrain where optical illusions sometimes make the ball appear to roll uphill. "Its definitely tricky when you have a massive contour coming off a mountain that sometimes shows up more than other holes," said Appleby, who had four birdies and a bogey. His tie for 16th at Reno last year was the best of his four top-25 finishes. "If you started not making many, it seems to be like you second-guess: Am I seeing too much or not enough break and is the mountain pushing it more than the last hole. So youve really got to be committed," Appleby said. It wasnt a problem for Romero, who made birdie putts from 27, 33 and 39 feet. After dropping the shortest of those on the 477-yard, par-4 sixth, he hit his approach on the next three holes within 8 feet of the pin and made them all to finish the string of four closing birdies. He credits a change in putters after the HP Byron Nelson in May. He hasnt missed a cut since and had his best finish this season last week with a tie for 21st at the Canadian Open. "It gave me a lot of confidence. I played the last five or six tournaments very well," Romero said. Playing together, Wi and Knost both eagled the 518-yard, par-5 13th. Wi hit his second shot 233 yards to the green and sank the 20-foot putt, while Knost chipped in from the fairway about 40 feet away. Pampling started the day with just two points but posted a second-round best 17 points to get into the tie for third on the strength of nine birdies and a bogey. Josh Teater, who led the first round with 15 points, bogeyed two of his first five holes Friday. He regained the lead with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 13 and 14, but his approach to the 15th missed left and he failed to make a 5-foot par putt. On the 616-yard 18th, he drove the ball 340 yards and hit his next shot 283 yards in the rough left of the green with about 45 feet to the pin. But his third shot got caught up in the rough again and his fourth held up in the fringe where he two-putted from 20 feet for a double-bogey 7 that cost him three points in the Stableford format. Bo Jackson Jersey . Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. Ron Santo Jersey . Nathan MacKinnon, Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 38-23. MacKinnons goal, also on the power play, came with just over a minute remaining. http://www.whitesoxteamshop.com/White-Sox-Miguel-Gonzalez-Kids-Jersey/ .J. Jefferson has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. Avisail Garcia Jersey .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. Carlton Fisk Jersey . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. SAN DIEGO -- Fighting for a postseason berth, Jeff Samardzija and the San Francisco Giants finally figured out the pesky San Diego Padres.Angel Pagans single broke a scoreless tie in the eighth and Samardzija struck out nine in seven innings for the Giants, who beat the Padres 2-1 on Thursday night to keep pace with the New York Mets for the NL wild card lead.The Mets and Giants took a half-game lead over the idle St. Louis Cardinals in the wild card race. New York beat Philadelphia 9-8 in 11 innings.San Francisco continues to trail Los Angeles by six games in the NL West, but the Dodgers reduced their magic number to four by beating Colorado 7-4.The Giants faced a Padres lineup that included five rookies, three making their big league debut. The Giants snapped a six-game losing streak to the Padres, who have been their nemesis during their second-half skid. The Padres swept the Giants at San Francisco last week and in San Diego in the first series after the All-Star break. The Giants had swept the Padres three times in the first two months of the season.Samardzija joined the Giants as a free agent so he could pitch in games like this.Its great, thats why I signed up to come over here and play, was to be playing in September, important games in September, he said. Thats why we play this game, to compete at the highest level, and with the most on the line.I tried to hang in there in the game long enough and then we squeaked on through there in the eighth. It was a nice way to end it.Samardzija (12-10) allowed four hits in seven scoreless innings, and walked none.Hes a horse, manager Bruce Bochy said. Thats obviously part of the deal, what intrigued us about him, his stuff and how strong he is. Hes really good, throwing the ball well right now, all his pitches locating. Gave us what we needed.Joe Panik, who had been in an 0-for-24 slump, doubled to right-center opening the eighth against Christian Friedrich (5-11). His fly ball ticked off the end of rookie Hunter Renfroes glove, hit the ground and bounced over the fence. Kelby Tomlinson, pinch-hitting for Samardzija, singled to left to put runners on the corners and chase Friedrich. Brad Hand came on and induced Eduardo Nunez to hit into a force, with Panik holding at third. Pagan then hit a blooper that landed just fair and brought in Panik.ddddddddddddRenfroe fielded Paniks blooper and made a strong throw, but first baseman Wil Myers cut it off.Since there was no other play there, Wil probably wants to let that ball go, manager Andy Green said. I think hed say that right now. I dont think were accustomed to Hunter Renfroes arm yet. That is a very unique play to see a ball drop on the line like that and see a guy coming up firing like that. I dont know how far up the line it was going to be to Hedgy (Austin Hedges), but I thought it was going to be close enough to be an interesting play at the plate. ... Theres some arm strength there.Hunter Pence doubled with two outs to bring in Nunez.Padres pinch-hitter Alex Dickerson homered off Derek Law with one out in the eighth.Sergio Romo pitched the ninth for his second save in as many chances. Schimpf doubled with one out before Renfroe popped up to first base and fellow rookie Carlos Asuaje grounded to short to end it.Padres outfielders Renfroe and Manual Margot, and second baseman Asuaje were making their first big league starts.Renfroe, Margot, Asuaje and Hedges were called up Wednesday from Triple-A El Paso. Renfroe and Asuaje made their big league debuts as pinch-hitters on Wednesday night while Margot made his as a pinch-runner. Hedges made his big league debut last year.Renfroe singled to left for his first career hit in the second and then singled to center in the fifth.Padres reliever Jose Torres made his big league debut when he started the ninth.TRAINERS ROOMGiants: Bochy said RHP Johnny Cueto, who was forced out of his start Tuesday night with a strained groin, is improving and will try to throw on Friday. ... Bochy said SS Brandon Crawfords dislocated pinky on his glove hand was doing a lot better. Yesterday he had a tough day. It was really sore. Hes throwing to keep in shape.Padres: Green said RHP Colin Rea has begun throwing. Hes been shut down with an elbow injury.UP NEXTGiants: Rookie RHP Albert Suarez (3-4, 4.16) is scheduled to start Friday night.Padres: RHP Edwin Jackson (4-6, 6.00) gets the start Friday night. ' ' '