Kruk Fills a Big Bill for Padres in 9-5 Win

“Look at that fat fella over there,” Bruce Bochy said Sunday. “That’s a strong fella over there. And a strong eater, too.”

Over there--at the clubhouse dining table--sat rookie John Kruk. On his plate was lasagna and in his hand was a soda. A giant gulp, and it was gone.

Sort of like his eighth-inning homer Sunday. A giant swing, and it was gone. The Padres had led the Reds by seven runs until pitcher LaMarr Hoyt stopped throwing fastballs and started throwing home run balls. Suddenly, it was a three-run lead, but Kruk came to the rescue. With one swing in the eighth inning, Kruk electrified his teammates, who finally realized that this was their day.

The Padres held on to win, 9-5, in front of 27,175 at Riverfront Stadium. Gene Walter, Craig Lefferts, Lance McCullers and Goose Gossage threw scoreless relief in only the fourth Padre victory on this sad, 12-game trip.

But on the happy side, how about Kruk? He is 12 for his last 22 (.545) and has his season average up to .356. Sunday, he had three hits, two RBIs, two plates of lasagna and three sodas.

“What’s the name of the book gonna be?!” teammate Ed Whitson shouted over to Kruk, who was surrounded by reporters after the game.

“Life and Times of Grizzly Adams,” Kruk said.

National League pitchers don’t have a book yet on Kruk. About two weeks ago, pitchers kept throwing inside to him, and he was pulling balls to right field. Now, they’re pitching him outside, and he’s banging it to left. His home run Sunday (No. 3 this year) was a line drive to left. A first-inning single also went to left. An RBI single in the fifth went to center.

His spraying the baseball every which way is reminding people of Tony Gwynn. “He’s hitting over .350? That ain’t nothing. He should be hitting .400,” Gwynn said. “I mean, you saw him in spring training--raking balls everywhere. He’s legit. It ain’t phony. I know the guy can hit. . . . And when a guy’s as hot as Kruk is, all of us see better pitches around him.”

Which might explain the nine Padre runs Sunday. Jerry Royster had two hits, Gwynn three hits, Steve Garvey one hit, Bruce Bochy two hits and three RBIs, and Garry Templeton two hits.

They won it in the fifth inning. Leading 1-0, Kruk singled up the middle to score Royster. Then, with the bases loaded, Bochy smacked a two-run double off former Padre Chris Welsh (4-4). Later that inning, Marvell Wynne’s ground out scored a run. It was 5-0.

Gwynn, Bochy and Templeton had RBIs in the sixth, and it was 8-1. Before the game, the Reds had played their children in their annual family get-together game, and the kids won, 25-0. The dads didn’t get an out, nor did they try to. Even Ty Rose (age 1 1/2) got a hit--a single, of course.

But the dads weren’t playing much better in the nightcap until the bottom of the sixth.

That’s when Hoyt (7-8) got careless. He got Dave Parker out, but Bo Diaz singled and then Buddy Bell homered--his fourth of the series. Rookie Barry Larkin followed with another homer (his career first), and one out later, Ron Oester homered. Boros ran out to remove Hoyt.

“My ears still hurt (from the crack of the bat) after all those homers the last 10 days,” said Boros, whose pitchers have yielded 14 home runs in the last five days alone. “I’m gonna start wearing cotton in my ears.”

Hoyt said: “I had a good fastball and then I just stopped. There was no reason to start throwing all the other crap. I guess I figured what the hell. . . . I had a big lead. If they hit it far, what’s the difference? I guess I was probably fooling around too much.”

In the seventh, trailing by just three runs, the Reds put two men on with one out against Lefferts. Bell stepped up. The crowd grew noisy, and the Padre bench grew quiet. But Bell grounded to second. Boros brought in McCullers to face the right-handed hitting Larkin, who grounded to short.

And then came Kruk.

“Oh, that was a big, big run,” Boros said.

Kruk said: “I just swing. I don’t know where it’s going. I don’t know why everything’s going to left, it’s just going. It may look simple, but it ain’t. I’m just seeing it good. Right now . . . I’m just zoned in.”

Batting instructor Deacon Jones said: “Is he this good? He’s gonna be better. He’s aggressive, yet he still walks a lot. And he just wants to hit the ball hard. People say he’s going too much to left field, but so did some guy named Willie Stargell. I’d say he has the arrogance to be a good hitter, that inner confidence. He gets mad at himself when he makes an out. He believes there’s no pitcher on earth who can get him out.”

Tim Flannery said: “I think he’s the greatest player to ever come out of the Padre minor leagues. He plays so hard. We love him for that.”

Gwynn, taking one a last look at Kruk’s body, said: “Look at him. He’s beat. He’s tired. He’s hurting. I know where he’s at. But I guarantee you this. Tomorrow, he’ll be ready to go again.”

Padre Notes

Reliever Gene Walter, who had an ingrown nail on his left middle finger, underwent minor surgery (inside the trainer’s room). He probably won’t be able to pitch for a couple days, Manager Steve Boros said. . . . Kevin McReynolds missed Sunday’s game with a jammed shoulder, injured when he broke up a double play Saturday night. His status is day-to-day. . . . Tony Gwynn used a different stance Sunday. It’s his pigeon-toed stance, the one he came up to the big leagues with. He turns his feet inward and says it is making him feel more comfortable at the plate. He had three hits Sunday, raising his average to .333. . . . The first three batters in the Padre order--Jerry Royster, Gwynn and John Kruk--were on base nine times Sunday. . . . The Reds hit three homers in the sixth inning Sunday, the first time they had done that since 1984. On June 7, 1984, Dave Parker, Tom Foley and Nick Esasky each homered off Eric Show in the first inning. . . . Dave LaPoint will make his first start as a Padre today against the Reds (9:35 a.m. PDT).