Padres Beaten by Pirates, but Stay Close to L.A.

Hindsight has a way of making some baseball games seem as if they should have been closer than they were.

The Padres’ 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday is a perfect illustration.

Had the Padres not allowed two runs in the top of the ninth, they would have had the tying run on second base in the bottom of the inning. But theoretical situations don’t count, even against the lowly Pirates.

Pittsburgh had secured its only win of the four-game series before Carmelo Martinez hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth. Mark Thurmond was victimized in the top of the inning on run-scoring singles by Jason Thompson and Bill Madlock.

“We have to hold them in the ninth,” Manager Dick Williams said. “The guy who got the hit to drive in the first run (Thompson) was 0 for 8 off Thurmond. Thurmond hung a breaking ball. It’s a little tough to get the tying run up when you’re down, 5-0.”

The Padre loss became easier to take when the Dodgers lost to St. Louis. Even so, Los Angeles still leads the Padres by a half-game in the National League West.

“We want to take all of our games,” Martinez said. “Especially with the way the Dodgers are playing, we have to take ‘em all.”

Just as the low-key Padres take winning in stride, they also are unemotional about losses such as Sunday’s.

However, in a calm manner, Williams let it be known he was not satisfied with Thurmond. Because Thurmond and Ed Wojna have been ineffective as starters of late, Williams decided to use a four-man rotation after the All-Star break. Thurmond lost his spot in the rotation after allowing five runs in four innings during his last outing on July 11 at St. Louis.

“I’m not worried about him not pitching in 10 days,” Williams said. “You make your own bed. He’s trying, he just didn’t do it.”

Uncharacteristically, Thurmond attempted to avoid reporters afterward. On his way out the door, he said: “That’s baseball, that’s all. It’s tough.”

For a change, managing was somewhat easy for Pittsburgh’s Chuck Tanner. His team has the worst record in the National League, but the Pirates fooled the Padres and 23,481 fans at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Rookie shortstop Sammy Khalifa was the key figure in Pittsburgh’s three-run second inning against Eric Show (7-7). Khalifa doubled home two runs and scored the third run on a single by Junior Ortiz.

Khalifa, 21, was Arizona’s prep Player of the Year in 1982.

Lee Tunnell, who pitched the first six innings for Pittsburgh, had been a non-believer in winning for quite some time before Sunday. Tunnell broke an 11-game losing streak dating back to June 2, 1984, by shutting out the Padres on five hits through the sixth.

John Candelaria, once the Pirates’ ace starter, was a failure in relief of Tunnell. He was pulled with one out in the ninth after Martinez homered.

Three days previous, Martinez had homered in the bottom of the eighth to beat Candelaria, 3-2. The latest homer was not so dramatic.

“I hit it too late,” Martinez said. “We need to start scoring more runs.”

Garry Templeton hit a two-out double off Cecilio Guante in the ninth. However, Guante ended the game by striking out pinch-hitter Bobby Brown.

There was a bit of good news offensively for Tony Gwynn and Graig Nettles. Gwynn went 2 for 4 to raise his average to .300. Nettles was also 2 for 4, which raised his average to .488 over the last 12 games.

Things were not so good for Gwynn defensively. He was charged with an error in the second-inning when Khalifa took third as the ball rolled under Gwynn’s glove near the stands. In the ninth, Gwynn might have thrown out Marvell Wynne at home plate had he cleanly fielded Thompson’s single.

“On the ball Khalifa hit, I didn’t touch it and got an error,” Gwynn said. “The second ball came out of my glove when I fielded it. You can’t dwell on those things. Today was just one of those days. You forget about it when you lose ‘em and come back tomorrow. That’s what I’m going to do.”

PADRES AT A GLANCE

SECOND INNING Pirates--Madlock walked. Frobel doubled to right, Madlock stopping at third. Khalifa doubled to right, Madlock and Frobel scoring with Khalifa taking third on Gwynn’s fielding error. Ortiz singled to right, Khalifa scoring. Tunnell struck out. Wynne popped to second. Kemp fouled to third. Three runs (two earned), three hits, one error, one left.

NINTH INNING Pirates--Thurmond took the mound. With one out, Wynne singled to center. Candelaria sacrificed. Ray was walked intentionally. Thompson singled to right, Wynne scoring with Ray taking third. Madlock singled to center, Ray scoring with Thompson taking third. Frobel grounded to second. Two runs, three hits, two left.

Padres--Nettles singled to left. Kennedy struck out. Martinez homered to left-center, his 13th. Guante replaced Candelaria. McReynolds grounded to third. Templeton doubled to center. Brown, batting for Thurmond, struck out. Two runs, three hits, one left.