Gwynn Steals Show From Dravecky as Padres Defeat Reds

The Chicken returned Saturday night, and so did Tony Gwynn.

Gwynn, playing with a sore left wrist that he thought he’d broken two days before, had one important RBI and three running catches in right field, helping the Padres defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-0, in front of 52,383 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The Padres lead in the National League West is five games.

And, in a sense, Gwynn’s performance was more newsworthy than Dave Dravecky’s shutout victory, which may or may not be fair considering Dravecky has won four straight games, has yielded just one run in 34 innings and has the second-best earned-run average among National League starters (2.02).

Still, Padre Manager Dick Williams began his post-game interview by saying, “I’ll tell you what . . . Dravecky played a hell of a game, but our right fielder played his (rear end) off.”

He almost didn’t play. On Thursday, Gwynn had tried sliding around Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia’s tag, tripped on Scioscia’s ankle, hit his head on Scioscia’s face mask and fallen on his wrist.

So he came to the stadium Friday and tried to take batting practice. He took two swings and decided he couldn’t play.

He came to the stadium again on Saturday, hours before the game. Again, he took batting practice, but this time there was no pain. He told batting coach Deacon Jones he wanted to play.

Said Jones: “I’d written him off. I guess he felt better.”

Meanwhile, in the Padre clubhouse, there’s a lineup board, and it wasn’t clear who would be batting second. Three names were listed (Gwynn, Bobby Brown, Al Bumbry). Eventually, Brown and Bumbry’s names were taken off. Gwynn would play.

“I played because I felt well enough to play,” Gwynn said. “I can’t just sit here until I’m well enough to play. The first time I swung (in the cage), I didn’t feel that bad. I wanted to play. And it was partly mental. The more you sit, the harder it is to come back.”

His first two times up, he didn’t reach base. No Padre reached base early. Red starter Mario Soto, who has now lost four straight games for the first time since 1981, pitched a no-hitter for four innings. Terry Kennedy broke it up with a hard single to right to open the fifth.

But nobody was scoring. The Chicken, who will not perform at any other Padre game this season, made the big scoreboard here smoke in his opening act, but the board had no more action until the sixth.

It was then that Garry Templeton led off the inning with a triple. He had hit the ball to left-center field, and took a gamble by going for three bases. He was safe as left fielder Cesar Cedeno missed the cutoff man.

Tim Flannery followed with a stand-up triple to right-center, scoring Templeton. Flannery stood on third, clapping his hands. And before he could stop clapping, Gwynn had come up and hit a single through a pulled-up infield.

Flannery scored.

Carmelo Martinez hit his 10th home run of the year off Tom Hume in the seventh, making it 3-0.

That put the game in Dravecky’s hands, and he didn’t let go. He finished the game, the 14th complete game by a Padre pitcher this season, already passing the number of complete games last season (13).

Dravecky helped himself by catching two line drives hit directly at his face. It was his night.

“I’m just hitting my spots,” Dravecky said.

Said pitching coach Galen Cisco: “He’s in a good groove, and he’s pitching as hard as he ever has.”

Which is about 89 m.p.h.

The Reds did not help Soto, for they could not score any runs. In the fourth, Tony Perez, a little hefty at age 43, only could advance from second to third on a Cedeno single, and that eventually haunted them. After Nick Esasky walked to load the bases with just one out, Ron Oester grounded to Dravecky, who threw home for one out, and Kennedy threw to first to end the inning.

And in the fifth, Dave Concepcion, age 37, was thrown out at the plate by Martinez. Dave Parker had singled, and it appeared likely that Concepcion would score, considering Martinez’s arm isn’t his strength. But Kennedy fielded the throw from left field on the bounce and reached back to tag Concepcion, who had seemingly scored already.

Umpire Terry Tata called him out, and Manager Pete Rose, who benched himself Saturday night since a left-hander was throwing, came out to argue to no avail.

In the ninth, Esasky had hit a fly ball down the line in right, and Gwynn came running in for it. He made a backhand stab, bobbled it and held on.

The crowd cheered.

The Chicken was upstaged.

Padre Notes

Garry Templeton was warming up before the seventh inning Friday night when he heard the song “Smooth Operator.” He looked up and saw one full minute of his own highlights on the DiamondVision screen here. He stopped and watched. He smiled. He tipped his hat and received a standing ovation. “Bill, can you try to get that tape for me?” Templeton asked publicist Bill Beck. “I looked up and thought they’d go through the whole team, but I kept seeing me. I kept watching, and Garv (Steve Garvey) couldn’t throw me the ball.” . . . More music video news: Third baseman Graig Nettles is mentioned in Bruce Springsteen’s newest video, “Glory Days.” As the video ends, Springsteen is pitching to a boy. The boy, in fun, asks: “Where’d you pitch today?” Springsteen says, “San Diego . . . Nettles got me in the ninth.” Said Nettles: “Yeah, I saw it for the first time in L.A. I liked it.”

PADRES AT A GLANCE

Scorecard SIXTH INNING Padres--Templeton tripled to left-center. Dravecky grounded to first. Flannery tripled to right-center, Templeton scoring. Gwynn singled to right, Flannery scoring. Garvey flied to right. Gwynn stole second. Kennedy was walked intentionally. McReynolds flied to right. Two runs, three hits, two left.

SEVENTH INNING Padres--With one out, Martinez homered to left, his 10th. Templeton popped to third. Dravecky grounded to shortstop. One run, one hit, none left.