Dravecky’s Luck Changes; Padres Defeat Reds, 4-1

Dave Dravecky was never one to search out the complaint department.

Whenever things went wrong for the Padre pitcher, about the worst he would say was “Aw, shucks.”

He hadn’t even been complaining that much lately, despite the fact everything was going wrong.

Wednesday night at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, Dravecky took it upon himself to make sure that things went right for a change. He pitched a five-hitter as the Padres beat Cincinnati, 4-1, before 21,028 fans.

As usual, Dravecky gave most of the credit to his teammates and very little to himself. So Graig Nettles decided to be his spokesman.

“He’s probably got the best attitude of any pitcher I’ve played behind,” Nettles said. “I feel bad when we don’t score for him. He never hangs his head or feels sorry for himself when we don’t score for him.”

Lately, the Padres have not scored many runs for Dravecky. Though he had a 2.63 earned-run average in his last nine starts before Wednesday, Dravecky had a 1-4 record in that span to show for it.

However, the pitcher took the blame for his bad luck. He reminded of how he had lost games against Chicago and St. Louis after his teammates had given him a lead.

“I don’t feel I have been the victim of bad luck,” he said. “I was the one who gave up the runs. You can say a lot of things. The bottom line is that I gave up the runs and got the losses.”

Dravecky (10-7) is the third Padre pitcher with at least 10 wins. Andy Hawkins has 14 and LaMarr Hoyt 13.

Hawkins and Hoyt may have more wins, but Dravecky has the best earned-run average. Hawkins has a 3.15 ERA, Hoyt’s is 3.52 and Dravecky is fourth in the National League at 2.17.

At Wednesday’s outset, it appeared Dravecky might be in for another unlucky evening. He jammed Cincinnati’s Dave Parker with one out in the first, but Parker singled to right to score Cesar Cedeno.

That was it for Cincinnati. The Padres scored four runs with two outs in the third, two on a bases-loaded single by Terry Kennedy and two on a double by Nettles.

After that, the Padres relied on Dravecky to overtake Cincinnati by one game in the battle for second place in the NL West, eight games behind the Dodgers.

“Maybe some breaks will start falling Dravecky’s way,” Manager Dick Williams said. “He won on four (Padre) hits. He’s run into a lot of tough luck like with that run tonight. He jammed Parker and the ball fell in.”

Winning, however, was a painful experience for Dravecky, who twisted his right ankle while tagging Dave Concepcion in unorthodox style on an eighth-inning bunt. He had the ankle in ice after the game.

Dravecky kept the Reds on ice after the first inning in an unusual style as well. Though not known as a strikeout pitcher, he struck out seven.

Williams noted that Dravecky is “a yard to a yard-and-a-half quicker than he used to be.”

Dravecky said his strikeouts were mostly on “backdoor sliders” this time.

After the game, Reds Player/Manager Pete Rose had a meeting with General Manager Bill Bergesch. For one of the few times, Rose was uncordial to the media thereafter.

While Rose was quiet, Nick Esasky was praising Dravecky.

“He doesn’t give you anything fat to hit,” Esasky said. “He keeps you off balance. We’re not swinging the bats well now. That makes it doubly tough.”

Cincinnati’s defense made things extremely tough on pitcher Jay Tibbs (5-13). With two out in the fourth, shortstop Dave Concepcion booted Steve Garvey’s grounder, loading the bases. Kennedy followed with his bases-loaded single to right that put the Padres ahead, 2-1. Nettles followed with his two-run double to left.

Both Kennedy and Nettles attributed their hits to thinking.

“I waste about 150 at-bats a year by not thinking beforehand,” Kennedy said. “That happens to a lot of hitters. I wasn’t worried about how hard or where I was going to hit it. I just wanted to hit it. We needed that two-out hit like we haven’t had in a while.”

Said Nettles: “I worked a lot in batting practice on hitting to left field. He struck me out on the same pitch my first at-bat. I was kind of looking for it in the area where he threw it.”

Cincinnati wasn’t guessing so well against Dravecky.

Padre Notes Garry Templeton led off for the first time this year Wednesday, and Kevin McReynolds was back in the lineup for the first time in nine games. Manager Dick Williams had terse explanations for these moves. On why Templeton led off, Williams said, “If (Miguel) Dilone was in, he’d lead off. He’s not in, so. . . .” On why McReynolds replaced Dilone in center field, Williams said, “His heel is all right now.” McReynolds said of his jammed right heel, “I probably could have played three days ago. It’s still sore, but you have to learn to tolerate pain. I don’t think you can hurt it by playing.” McReynolds struck out as a pinch-hitter Tuesday with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning. “I just hope my timing is not off too bad,” he said before Wednesday’s game. “It’s just like last night. My timing was off from not being in there.” McReynolds was 0 for 3 Wednesday. . . . Carmelo Martinez made the defensive play of the night, robbing Cesar Cedeno of an extra-base hit on a liner to left-center in the fifth inning. . . . Eric Show (8-7) will pitch against Cincinnati’s Andy McGaffigan (1-1) in the series finale at 1:05 p.m. today.

Scorecard FIRST INNING Reds--Cedeno walked and stole second. Concepcion struck out. Parker singled to right, Cedeno scoring. Perez flied to right. Esasky struck out. One run, one hit, one left.

THIRD INNING Padres--With one out, Dravecky walked. Templeton singled to left, Dravecky stopping at second. Gwynn flied to left. Garvey was safe on Concepcion’s error, loading the bases. Kennedy singled to right, Dravecky and Templeton scoring with Garvey taking third. Nettles doubled to left, Garvey and Kennedy scoring. Martinez struck out. Four runs (all unearned), three hits, one error, one left.