Padres Rally Just in Time to Beat Giants

Although a more logical question would have been “Who’s pitching today?”, most of the Padres were walking around their clubhouse Thursday saying “What time did you get home last night?”

And that’s because somebody in the Padre marketing department scheduled a day game after Wednesday night’s game in Los Angeles, and the Padres hadn’t had a day off in two weeks. Fortunately, not many drove 55 m.p.h. on the way back from L.A., including the team bus driver, named Lloyd, who Manager Dick Williams says “moves it out pretty good.”

Consequently, they had enough energy to win one in the late innings, defeating the Giants, 6-5, when Terry Kennedy (he got home at 11:50 Wednesday night) hit a two-run double in the eighth off reliever Mark Davis, who had allowed just one run in his last 18 innings and retired Kennedy 15 straight times.

“I am so tired,” said Kennedy, slumped in his chair on a day he broke out of a mild batting slump.

But that’s only part of the story. Giant starter Mike Krukow wasn’t supposed to pitch until today, but scheduled starter Jim Gott had a backache. Krukow chatted with pitching coach Bob Miller and decided he could start a day early.

“I had a uniform on,” Krukow said. “I might as well go out there.”

He went out there and stopped the Padres, too, pitching perfect baseball for three innings, giving up just four hits overall and leading 5-3 as he began the eighth. But he walked the leadoff man, Al Bumbry, on four pitches, and out came Manager Jim Davenport to get him.

Krukow left calmly then, because he had seen that Davis, who has more strikeouts than any other reliever in the majors, was trotting in. But on a 3-2 pitch, Davis walked Jerry Royster, who had pinch-hit for Tim Flannery.

Next up was Tony Gwynn, who hadn’t had a hit all day and who went to the plate in an awful frame of mind. Gwynn was so pessimistic about his chances of hitting Davis that he tried sacrificing the runners to second and third. His bunt bounded foul.

Williams’ eyes bugged out, and third base coach Ozzie Virgil sprinted down to the batter’s box to tell Gwynn to cut it out.

“I guess they didn’t like that,” Gwynn said. “ . . . I ended up getting a hit and looking like a hero.”

Gwynn (who got home at 1:30 a.m. the night before because he had to pick his wife up at his in-laws) did stroke the next Davis pitch into right-center field. Bumbry scored while Royster took third. Up next was Kennedy, who had struck out in 10 of his last 15 at-bats against Davis.

He doubled home Royster and Gwynn to give the Padres a 6-5 lead. Goose Gossage pitched the ninth to earn his 16th save.

This was all a strange feeling for Davis, who has stepped in as the Giants’ left-handed stopper after San Francisco traded Gary Lavelle in the off-season. He is just 24, and apparently didn’t know how to act when it was over. Miller saw him pouting, walked over to him and basically said that 24-year-olds are human, too.

Then, Greg Minton, the bullpen guru, came over and said something similar. Davis, regrouped, went to his chair and answered every question from every reporter. He had taken this like a man.

Over in the Padre clubhouse, LaMarr Hoyt (9-4) was saying “I’ll take it.” He won his seventh straight Thursday and he said he had been lucky. The problem sometimes with Hoyt is that he relies too much on his slow curveball. It’s really his out pitch, but if he doesn’t flick his wrist correctly, it’ll hang.

Jeff Leonard hit one of those hangers for a three-run homer in the sixth, putting the Giants ahead, 4-3.

“When I have that breaking ball going, I can be more trouble for those guys,” Hoyt said. “But, sometimes, I don’t know if I should use it . . . I overuse it sometimes.”

Leonard hit two homers on the day, his sixth and seventh of the season. His first came in the second inning on a fastball. So Hoyt ended up throwing him nothing but those slow curves, the same slow curves that Leonard struck out on in a crucial situation in San Francisco last weekend. Thursday, those curves got him out twice more, but don’t forget that three-run homer.

And one last thing about Hoyt. He had the incredible foresight the day before to ask Williams if he could skip Wednesday night’s game in Dodger Stadium. That way, he could drive home Wednesday afternoon, watch the Padre-Dodger game on television and get a good night’s sleep, the only drawback being that he’d miss Lloyd’s luxury ride home.

Padre Notes As of Thursday, Steve Garvey, Tony Gwynn, Graig Nettles and Terry Kennedy were top vote-getters in the All-Star balloting. Said Kennedy: “Yeah, I’ll be leading until the last tallies come in and then I’ll get beat by 500,000 votes. . . . The big push is the last two weeks (before voting ends July 6), and we’re on the road those two weeks (which means Padre fans can’t vote at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium). I’d like to make it.” . . . Dodger starter Jerry Reuss, the first pitcher to defeat Andy Hawkins this year, said of Hawkins: “I don’t think this particular game is going to make a difference as far as he’s concerned. He may turn around and win 11 more. I’ve never won 11 in a row. I don’t know what that’s like. My hat is off to him.” . . . The Padres are the first National League team to go over 1 million in road attendance.

PADRES AT A GLANCE

Scorecard SECOND INNING Giants--Leonard homered to right, his sixth. Brenly popped to second. Brown flied to center. Green reached on Nettles’ error. Green was caught stealing. One run, one hit.

FOURTH INNING Padres--Flannery singled to left-center. Gwynn flied to left. Flannery took second on a wild pitch. Garvey popped to the catcher. Kennedy homered to right, his seventh. Nettles popped to third. Two runs, two hits, none left.

FIFTH INNING Padres--McReynolds tripled to right-center. Brown struck out. Templeton singled to right, McReynolds scoring. Hoyt sacrificed. Flannery was hit by a pitch. Gwynn flied to right. One run, two hits, two left.

SIXTH INNING Giants--Youngblood singled to left. Trillo sacrificed. Davis walked. Leonard homered to left, his seventh. Brenly struck out. Brown singled to left. Green struck out. Three runs, three hits, one left.

EIGHTH INNING Giants--With two outs, Brenly singled to left. Brown doubled to left-center, Brenly scoring. Green flied to left. One run, two lets, one left.

Padres--Bumbry, batting for Hoyt, walked. Davis replaced Krukow. Royster, batting for Flannery, walked. Gwynn singled to right, Bumbry scoring, Royster taking third. Garvey struck out. Kennedy doubled to right-center, Royster and Gwynn scoring with Kennedy thrown out at third. Nettles flied to right. Three runs, two hits, none left.