Padres Give Kroc Very Little to Cheer About in 5-3 Defeat

ATLANTA —  Padre owner Joan Kroc flew here for the weekend “to enjoy some baseball,” but is she having fun yet?

The Padres played their second straight bonehead game Saturday night. This time, pitcher LaMarr Hoyt gave them a rare quality start, but Lance McCullers and Gene Walter gave rotten relief.

And Carmelo Martinez booted another baseball.

And Marvell Wynne--who usually gets the green light to steal bases--ran a red light, which helped ruin a ninth-inning rally.

Kroc, who sat in the stands but didn’t do the wave with the other fans, had little to cheer about in a 5-3 Atlanta victory.

The Braves and Padres are now tied for third place with 37-36 records.

“This one was a tough one to lose,” said Hoyt, who gave up just five hits and one run in six innings. “And last night was a tough one to lose. Hopefully, we can salvage this thing and win one.”

Bench coach Harry Dunlop absorbed his second straight loss as interim manager, with regular Manager Steve Boros away at his daughter’s wedding in Washington state. Boros caught a red-eye flight and will arrive early today, and he might be greeted by some red-eyed people.

Will Dunlop have slept Saturday night? He removed Hoyt after the sixth inning, the Padres ahead, 2-1. Hoyt had thrown more than 90 pitches but felt that he could have gone another inning. Still, the Padre bullpen has been nearly invincible of late, so it didn’t appear to be a gamble when McCullers began the seventh inning.

But with one out in the seventh, a McCullers pitch hit Rafael Ramirez--a .243 hitter--in the ribs. Ozzie Virgil followed with a single, Ramirez running to second. Andres Thomas struck out, but pinch-hitter Ted Simmons--who Terry Kennedy thinks is headed for the Hall of Fame--singled in Ramirez.

Simmons--acquired from Milwaukee this spring for catcher Rick Cerone, pitcher David Clay and infielder Flavio Alfaro--is 7 for 19 pinch-hitting with runners in scoring position.

“He’s gonna go in the Hall of Fame,” said Kennedy, who used to play with Simmons in St. Louis. “I don’t care what people say about his defense. He’s driven in 12 (hundred), 1,300 RBIs (1,337) and he is closing in on 250 home runs (239), and his lifetime average is under just .300 (.287). Those are Hall of Fame stats for a catcher. Usually, longevity gets you into the Hall of Fame for a catcher.”

So after Simmons tied the score, 2-2, Dunlop brought in Walter for McCullers. Brave Manager Chuck Tanner was brave to send Terry Harper up as a pinch-hitter. Harper was hitting .149 against lefties and was 0 for 13 pinch-hitting.

So he goes up and strokes a line drive to left. Martinez, realizing the go-ahead run was on second, came charging in, hoping to field the ball on one hop and throw to the plate. But the ball skidded to the right, eluded Martinez and rolled to the fence. Virgil and Simmons scored, and Harper ended up on third.

“Nobody likes to see an error made, but that was an aggressive error,” Dunlop said. “He was charging it. He was hustling. We didn’t like it, but you can’t fault him. The ones that get you upset are the careless ones.”

Said Martinez: “I know if I caught the ball (on a hop), it’s a different ballgame.”

So the Braves took a two-run lead and increased it to three in the eighth. Walter walked leadoff hitter Dale Murphy. Next, Jerry Royster made a fielding error on Bob Horner’s double-play ball and Murphy took second. Ken Oberkfell followed with a run-scoring double, and it was 5-2.

Nonetheless, the Padres kept rallying. In the eighth, Martinez sort of atoned for his mistake, cracking a two-out double to left off reliever Jeff Dedmon. But Steve Garvey is mired in a horrible slump (0 for 25) and he flew out to end the inning.

“I’ve had them (slumps) before,” Garvey said. “But this is a pretty good one. I’ll just try to stay back and hit the ball where it’s pitched. I’ve hit a couple balls up the middle, balls I thought were through. I’ll just keep swinging. This is not my idea of fun, but I’ll think of something.”

Then came the ninth. Garry Templeton led off with a grounder to short, but Thomas let it roll under his glove. Kroc cheered. Kennedy, batting for Bruce Bochy, then came through with his fifth consecutive pinch-hit, breaking Kurt Bevacqua’s team record.

“Kurt will be (peeved),” Kennedy said. “I’m glad I can get those hits to help, but I don’t want to get labeled.”

Runners were on first and second with no outs. Tim Flannery was announced as a pinch-hitter for Royster, but Tanner inserted reliever Paul Assenmacher. Dunlop, thinking twice, pinch-hit John Kruk for Flannery, and Kruk delivered an RBI single to make it 5-3. Runners on first and second, again. Still no outs.

Wynne was the next hitter, and some players--asking for anonymity--thought he should have been sacrificing to get both runners in scoring position. Instead, Wynne swung away and grounded into a force play. With one out, there were runners on first and third with Bip Roberts up. Tony Gwynn, the league’s leading hitter, was on deck.

The count got to be 1 and 2. Wynne, thinking aggressively, tried to steal second on his own. The sign was not on. Virgil, 0 for 3 throwing out runners on the night, got a high, outside fastball from Assenmacher and hurled it.

Wynne was out.

Roberts grounded out to end it.

Gwynn was out of patience afterward.

“I don’t know whose fault it is, but I believe I’ve got to get a chance to hit,” he said. “I feel like I’m hitting good. I’ve got to at least get a crack at it. Leon grounds out, and that’s it. All I can say is I’ve got to believe I should get a chance to hit.”

Said Dunlop: “Well, we ran ourselves right out of the ballgame. That really hurt at the end. . . . He (Wynne) has had it (the green light) before, as far as I know with Steve (Boros). But it wasn’t good judgment. We had the league’s leading hitter coming up, and there can’t be any doubt if he’s gonna run. He has to know he can make it. We’re not worrying about Bip hitting into a double play, not with his speed.

“We’ll talk to him (Wynne) about it. . . . We want him to be aggressive, but there’s a difference. You don’t do it at that time. Either you’re gonna steal it easy or you don’t go.”

Said Wynne: “I wanted the tying run in. . . . I tried to get in scoring position. I was aggressive, but really I was too aggressive with Tony coming up. I just thought I had a good shot. . . . I didn’t realize it was a mistake until the game was over. What did Harry tell me? He said, “Bad timing.’ ”

The same could be said for Joan Kroc.

Padre Notes Mark Thurmond will replace Eric Show as today’s starting pitcher. Show, who has flexor tendinitis in his right elbow, walked in to see trainer Dick Dent before Saturday’s game and Dent said: “So you’re starting Tuesday, huh?” Show responded: “I thought I was starting Sunday.” But Dent said: “No, I think it’s probably better if you wait until Tuesday.” So Show will start Tuesday’s game in Houston. It will be first time since Show got in the rotation in 1982 that he will miss a scheduled start. “I think I could do it either way, but I think their point is very good,” Show said. “This way, I get two extra days.” . . . Carmelo Martinez is the only player in 124.1 innings to homer off Brave pitcher Zane Smith this year. He did it in San Diego. So, with Smith starting Saturday, Dunlop moved Martinez into the cleanup spot and put the slumping Steve Garvey in the fifth spot. . . . Lance McCullers, who got the loss Saturday, has pitched in four straight games. . . . Padre announcer Jerry Coleman made a royal mistake Friday night. Explaining why Manager Steve Boros was absent, he said: “Boros is attending his daughter’s funeral.” Actually, it’s a much happier moment--her wedding.