Padres Cast Caution to the Wind in a 9-5 Loss at Wrigley Field

In a no-wind situation, when the air at Wrigley Field is relatively calm, you might expect a tranquil little game with no bloops and not a lot of “oops.”

Wrong.

The San Diego Padre fielders made errors, the Padre pitchers threw errors, a Chicago Cub actually stole home and a Cub pitcher was credited with the game-winning RBI.

But, ultimately, a looping fly ball--that normally would have gone foul with the wind--stayed fair Sunday, and this was the main reason the Cubs defeated a confused Padre team, 9-5, in front of 32,359 on Madre Day.

The key play came in the seventh inning. With the Cubs holding a 6-5 lead, Bob Dernier stepped up with two out and runners on first and second. The Padre pitcher was Gene Walter, born in Chicago and throwing in Wrigley for his first time as a pro. Back in junior college, he had thrown here, but that was eons ago, way before his slider worked.

And Dernier kept fouling off that slider. Five times Walter threw him pitches, and five times the ball caromed out of bounds. Finally, Dernier straightened one out, but it also seemed to be curling away, toward the left-field sideline. And on a normal windy day the ball surely would have blown foul. Dernier admitted so. But it hung, and left fielder Kevin McReynolds didn’t know what to do.

Should he dive into the Cub bullpen for it? But he would have been diving onto a concrete pitcher’s mound, right?

A no-win situation.

So he didn’t dive, and the ball fell smack on the sideline. It was fair, and, though it was sort of unfair, Walter had yielded two runs as the runners came sprinting home.

“Ah, I knew it was a hit as soon as it left my bat,” a winking Dernier said. “I tell ya, I’d rather get lucky than anything. It hung up, hit the line and we got two runs. That’s all that counts.”

McReynolds: “If the mound wasn’t there, I’d probably have dove. But I’m not gonna dive with that mound there.”

San Diego Manager Steve Boros: “Yep, that two-run double by Dernier did us in. I thought we were going to come back and win the game. You can’t fault Walter. The ball just dropped in.”

But soon Dernier stole home, which was Walter’s fault. Dernier had advanced to third when third baseman Jerry Royster--who committed two errors--misplayed a very slow blooper hit by Chris Speier that could have ended the inning. The ball was coming right to him, but it flew by his glove for some reason. A freak thing.

At that point, pitching coach Galen Cisco screamed out to catcher Terry Kennedy, warning him of a possible double steal. Kennedy went to warn Walter. He told Walter: “If anything funny happens at first, step off the rubber.”

Kennedy admitted later: “I should have said, ‘Step off the rubber and look at the man at third.’ ”

Because Speier ended up faking Walter out, falling down on purpose as he took a lead off first base. Walter stepped off to look at Speier, but Dernier had a terrific jump off third and stole home standing up.

The Cub lead was four.

“It’s a common play,” Boros said. “That’s inexperience (by Walter), I guess.”

Walter: “They suckered me a little bit.”

That the Padres--who are below .500 (15-16) for the first time since April 9--made it close is commendable. They scored a first-inning run when Royster singled, went to third on Tony Gwynn’s single and scored on Steve Garvey’s ground out. But starter Mark Thurmond (2-2) didn’t have anything Sunday. The Cubs scored four times in the second inning, although Thurmond could not blamed totally.

Chicago’s Keith Moreland opened with a single, and Ron Cey lined out hard to Royster at third. But Royster tried doubling up Moreland and threw way wide of Garvey. Moreland advanced to second. Leon Durham’s single scored Moreland, and Jody Davis singled Durham to third. Dernier walked, loading the bases.

With starting pitcher Steve Trout coming up, Cub Manager Jim Frey ordered the squeeze play. Trout is supposed to bunt while Durham comes charging in to score. Oops. Trout, for some reason, pulled his bat back and didn’t bunt. Durham was trapped and was out in a rundown, though he kicked Thurmond in the head when Thurmond made the tag.

Thurmond, who suddenly had this big, ugly welt on his forehead, was stunned. It showed, too. Trout turned around and singled to left, scoring the go-ahead runs. It was the third time in four games that opposing pitchers had hit key RBIs against the Padres. Last Thursday, St. Louis’ Tim Conroy had four RBIs, and the Cubs’ Dennis Eckersley hit a two-run home run Saturday.

Said Trout: “I’m hitting better than I’m pitching.”

The Padres did rough him up a little. In the second, Kennedy--who wound up going 4 for 4--doubled in Garry Templeton. In the fifth, Kennedy and John Kruk had consecutive singles, followed by Bip Roberts’ first major league RBI--a line single to right. Royster’s ground out then scored another run.

The Cubs were still leading, though, because they had scored twice earlier off reliever Tim Stoddard. Davey Lopes’ first home run of the season in the fourth was their sixth run.

But the Padres--trailing 6-5--blew a chance to take the lead in the sixth. They had loaded the bases against lefty Ray Fontenot, and with the pitcher coming up Boros selected left-handed hitting Marvell Wynne to pinch hit. Logically, Boros would have sent up a right-handed hitter, but catcher Bruce Bochy was the only one he had. And he said he didn’t want to use Bochy then and risk having no backup catcher on the bench. What if Kennedy were to get hurt? Who’s the third-string catcher?

Tim Flannery.

He hasn’t caught since grade school.

So Wynne, who was hitting a decent .400 against left-handed pitching, had to come through. He did not. He grounded out to first.

They never came close again.

“We’re just not getting the type of pitching we need to win,” Tony Gwynn explained later. “It’s getting frustrating. After losing two games here the way we’ve just lost? Boy, it’s frustrating. . . . At the beginning of the year, we were getting great pitching and no hitting. And now, we’re getting hitting and not great pitching. And our defense has let us down.

“We’ve got to win two in Pittsburgh. We’ve got to salvage this trip.”

Padre Notes Carmelo Martinez was a late scratch from the starting lineup. His left knee still is sore. He did draw a pinch-hit walk in the sixth, but Dave Dravecky had to pinch-run for him. . . . Bip Roberts, who will now be playing every day, had two more hits Sunday and is batting .273 (12 for 44). Just seven games ago, he was batting .000 (0 for 20). . . . John Kruk and Cub third-base coach Don Zimmer are look-alikes. “He’s the spitting image of me,” Kruk said. They posed for pictures, and Zimmer has taken a liking to Kruk, already relaying some batting tips. . . . Tony Gwynn celebrated his 26th birthday on Friday. What was his best present? His wife, Alicia, who surprised him by flying in from San Diego.