Tutoring Pays Off for Padres : After Hitting Lessons, McReynolds’ Homer Helps Beat Cubs, 6-2

Kevin McReynolds, San Diego’s new No. 6 hitter because he has been swinging like a sick hitter, hit a three-run home run against the wind Friday to lead the Padres to a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

The seventh-inning blast broke a 2-2 tie, and hitting coach Deacon Jones nearly broke McReynolds’ helmet afterward.

Jones, who has been giving McReynolds private lessons, kept slapping him on the head.

McReynolds screamed: “Ouch! My ears!”

Later in the clubhouse, Jones screamed: “I guess I did hurt his ears. I was happy. I guess I got carried away.”

The home run was not carried away by the wind. The gusts at Wrigley Field averaged 17 m.p.h. and held up balls hit anywhere from left-center to right field.

Still, McReynolds hit his through the wind to left-center off Rick Sutcliffe.

Lately, though, right-handers such as Sutcliffe have made it so McReynolds can’t do anything right.

And he was moved down from No. 3 to No. 6 in the lineup.

“I guess a blind squirrel found a nut” was how McReynolds explained his home run.

Some other nutty things happened.

- Andy Hawkins became only the fourth Padre pitcher to throw a complete game, and this one was a five-hitter. His only mistake appeared to be a slow fastball that Ron Cey hit out of the stadium and onto Waveland Avenue in the fifth inning.

“Oh, I made plenty of mistakes,” Hawkins said, “but when you’re winning, it seems nobody hits ‘em.”

He retired 12 of the last 13 batters he faced.

- Shortstop Tim Flannery, who had only six career home runs, hit one to the left-field bleachers off Sutcliffe in the third inning to make the score 2-0.

“Yeah,” said Flannery, smacking his lips, “that means I’ve got seven big ones now.”

He played shortstop because Garry Templeton’s knees are acting up. He’ll play shortstop again today.

Flannery is not that adept there, but the first Cub batter of the day, Shawon Dunston, hit one hard at him and he made the play look easy.

“Their game plan went out of whack when I caught that first ball,” Flannery said. “They planned on hitting every ball to me.”

- Terry Kennedy, too, hit a line-drive home run, the first time he has hit one to left this season. This was in the second inning and put the Padres ahead, 1-0.

“I knew it was gone,” he said. “When I looked up, the ball was already a third of the way there.”

- Bip Roberts did all he could to win the game himself. The Cubs tied it, 2-2, in the fifth inning, but Roberts got three singles on the day and kept trying to get to second base.

He was caught stealing twice.

But that’s fine, Manager Steve Boros said. Roberts, after beginning 0 for 22, has six hits in his last 12 at-bats and is hitting .205. Boros said Roberts has won the starting second baseman’s job for the next three or four days.

What’s the difference? He’s listening to Jones.

Jones, who also has been giving Roberts private lessons, badly wants Roberts to hit grounders to utilize his speed. So much so that he gives Roberts a penny for every grounder he hits in batting practice. If Roberts pops one up, though, he owes Jones 25 cents.

“I set the prices because I’m the coach,” Jones said. “I guess I’ll have to up the ante to be fair to the kid.

“But thank God he’s hitting. I feel great for him. It (0 for 22) was a tough test, but he believes now. He wanted to believe before, but he was tentative. He had looked good on defense, but everyone wants to hit.”

Cub announcer Harry Caray, on the air, said: “That Bip Roberts! He looks like he’s 3 for 5.”

Roberts, told about it, said: “Harry said that? That’s great.”

- Maybe the nuttiest thing of all was seeing Harry Dunlop as the Padres’ third base coach.

At 6-feet 2-inches, he’s too big for that job.

“Really,” Roberts said.

Dunlop took over for the regular third base coach, Jack Krol, who is in North Carolina for his daughter’s graduation and will miss all three games here.

Dunlop, though, had no tough decisions to make on the field. Not once did he have to wave a runner home or hold one up.

“But after all those homers,” he said, “I had to decide whether or not to shake their hands hard.”

Padre Notes Graig Nettles accounted for the Padres’s sixth run Friday when he singled in Steve Garvey in the ninth. . . . The Padres are second in the National League with 28 home runs (20 have been solo shots). Montreal leads with 38. . . . Tony Gwynn, celebrating his 26th birthday, batted third for the first time this season. “It’s been in the back of my mind quite a while,” Manager Steve Boros said. “I talked to the coaches about it. He’s hit a bunch of homers and doubles. With the power he’s shown, he’s looking more and more like a No. 3 hitter.”