Whitson Rung by Bell as Padres Lose, 4-1

One mistake, that’s all it takes. The count was 3-0 to Buddy Bell in the fifth inning Saturday night when Padre pitcher Ed Whitson tried throwing a fastball away.

And away it went.

Bell’s three-run homer off Whitson helped to give the Reds a 4-1 victory over San Diego. The Padres have scored more than three runs in a game only three times through 10 games of this 12-game trip. They’re 3-7 in that stretch. One mistake, and they’re out of it.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh,” Manager Steve Boros said afterward. “It’s amazing.”

What is?

“Our run production,” he said.

Bill Gullickson, the Reds’ winning pitcher, wasn’t that good Saturday. In the second, the Padres had two on and nobody out and didn’t score. In the third and fifth, they had two on and one out and didn’t scored. In the sixth, their leadoff man got on but, again, they didn’t score.

In the eighth, they finally scored.

John Kruk--the one-man band whose batting average is up to .348--doubled, and Kevin McReynolds doubled him home.

“If we had gotten to him in the first three or four innings, he (Gullickson) wouldn’t have been out there,” Whitson said.

“Yeah, I made a bonehead pitch to Bell. He hit a good fastball that moved from the outside, where it was supposed to be, to the inside part of the plate. He’s a hot hitter, anyway. Real hot.”

Bell, who had been a bust since coming from Texas in a trade last year, now has a 14-game hitting streak. His 12 homers are his high since 1983.

In the fifth inning, Whitson got Pete Rose to line out to center. He then walked outfielder Dave Parker, who hurled his bat 50 feet after drawing the free pass. Then, catcher Bo Diaz lifted a 50-foot popup to center field. Padre shortstop Garry Templeton went out, and center fielder McReynolds came in, but the ball fell in.

Templeton said he had been playing in for a double play, but that normally he would have caught the ball. McReynolds said he just couldn’t get to it. But what bothered Whitson was that Parker had run all the way to second on the popup, and if either fielder catches it, Parker is doubled up at first.

“Man, then I’m out of the inning,” Whitson said.

Bell put the Padres out of the game.

How they didn’t score:

--Second inning: After a walk to Steve Garvey and a Graig Nettles single, Terry Kennedy flied out and Templeton struck out.

--Third inning: With one out, Tony Gwynn singled to right, and Kruk followed with a shot into the left-field corner. Runners were at second and third, but McReynolds--on the first pitch to him--popped up to Rose at first base.

“There are two things I don’t want to do in that situation,” McReynolds said. “Hit a weak popup or strike out. Well, I did one of ‘em.”

Garvey ended the inning with a ground out.

--Fifth inning: With one out, Tim Flannery and Gwynn hit consecutive singles. Then, Kruk chopped one high up the middle. Gullickson jumped up and snared it to start an inning-ending double play.

“Same old story,” Boros said. “Kruk can’t do it alone.”

But he’s trying.

“He stings the ball hard,” Nettles said of Kruk. “He’s not getting cheap hits. Looks like he’ll be a good hitter if no one messes him up.

“What I mean is, he’s not real scientific. He’s a free-swinger. Just leave him be and he should be a good one.”

Lance McCullers, who had been mediocre as a starter, was superb again in relief Saturday. With Eric Show throwing a complete game Friday night, it figured McCullers would be back in the bullpen, and he was. Said Boros: “He looked so much more aggressive and relaxed out of the bullpen.”

He threw no-hit ball for two innings.

“Well, I couldn’t throw my slider when I was starting,” McCullers said. “But I don’t know if I was trying to overthrow as a starter or trying to pace myself or what. I knew in the bullpen I could throw as hard as I could for as long as I could. The biggest problem with starting was that I only had one pitch (the fastball). It makes it difficult when hitters can sit and wait for your fastball.”

Boros, meanwhile, sits and waits for some runs.

Padre Notes Steve Garvey still isn’t sure if he’ll play in 1988--his option year with the Padres. He said Saturday that he always had “projected” playing through to 1988. “I had played 12 years with the Dodgers, and six seemed right with the Padres,” said Garvey, who is in his fourth year with San Diego. “Nothing’s definite, but I’ve always thought in those terms.” Of course, even if he wanted to play in 1988, the Padres have the option to refuse him. “Well, I think we have an understanding there if I want to come back,” he said. . . . Pitcher Dave LaPoint will start Monday in Cincinnati, Manager Steve Boros announced Saturday. With Lance McCullers going back to the bullpen, the team needed someone to take his place for a day. “I think it’s good timing now because the last three or four or five times out, I’ve been pretty consistent,” said LaPoint, who was acquired from Detroit for Mark Thurmond. “I’ve been throwing strikes. I’m not saying I’ll be able to go more than five or six innings--if I get that far--but a couple more starts and I’ll be able to get back to the seven- eight-inning pitcher I used to be.” LaPoint wants to be a regular starter. “In the back of my mind, I’ll try to have a game that will force myself into that rotation,” he said. . . . The Padres have promoted former No. 1 pick Shane Mack (June, 1984) to Triple-A Las Vegas, and Mack had two hits in his first game.