Martinez’s Hit Lifts the Padres : After Missing Sign, Gwynn Makes Good With Run in 10th

The Padres and Dodgers--The Teams That Would Not (or Could Not) Score--renewed their annual drought Thursday afternoon. A year ago, there were 13 one-run games between them, and 1987 is off to a rousing--or drowsy--start, depending upon how you perceive it.

On this day, the Padres won in 10 innings when first baseman Carmelo Martinez ripped a high fastball from Matt Young down the left-field line. Tony Gwynn, who had collected his fifth hit of the afternoon just moments before, scored from first base for a 3-2 decision.

Gwynn immediately threw a fist in the air, but back to earth he came when he learned he owed Manager Larry Bowa $100.

That’s because Gwynn had missed a hit-and-run sign. Martinez originally tried to bunt, and Bowa saw that Young was charging the plate. So Bowa changed his mind, and had third-base coach Harry Dunlop flash the hit-and-run sign. But Gwynn didn’t see it.

Meanwhile, Young still was expecting a bunt. He figured the hardest pitch to bunt would be a fastball up in the strike zone. So that’s where he put it.

“I was hoping he’d pop a bunt up,” Young said. “And he popped it up all right--five feet off the ground.”

The drive was down the line in left, and Gwynn barely scored. He would have scored easily if he’d seen Dunlop’s sign.

Over in the Dodger clubhouse, there was some serious dreaming going on. Tony Gwynn’s younger brother, Chris, is a Dodger--a Triple-A Dodger--and Manager Tom Lasorda said: “In a few years, I hope they’ll know Tony as Chris Gwynn’s brother. We just hope and pray Tony’s brother can hit like that.”

Tony Gwynn thinks so.

“I saw him on TV (this spring) and he raked a single to center,” Tony said of Chris.

Speaking of dreams, Young wishes his would come true. He came over to the Dodgers from Seattle Dec. 10, the season is only a little over a week old and his record is 0-3. Since he grew up around Los Angeles, this does not sit well with him. Everybody--mainly pitching coach Ron Perranoski--says he’s doing fine, but does Young think the same thing?

“No, but everyone else does,” said Young, who threw only six pitches Thursday. “I feel like I’m throwing well. . . good velocity. . . but I’ve pretty much been at the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m not getting down or anything, but you’re upset when you don’t win.

“Like in Houston, I made some good pitches, and I got stuck with a loss. And, today, I threw a couple of lousy pitches and got the loss. All is not fair in love and war and baseball. It’s early, though. What is it, nine games? I doubt I’ll go 0 and 30.”

The Padres were 1-8 coming into the game because they weren’t exactly being opportunistic. Their largest run output in a single game had been six--and they lost by seven runs that day. In the first inning Thursday, facing Dodger starter Orel Hershiser, they immediately got two men aboard, as leadoff man Joey Cora singled and Gwynn doubled. And then Hershiser walked Martinez, loading the bases.

“You’re trying to get a feel for the mound, and the bases are loaded right away,” Hershiser would say later.

Yet, Hershiser escaped, the first of two great escapes. He got outfielder John Kruk to pop out to shallow left, he struck out third baseman Kevin Mitchell on a breaking ball, and he got catcher Benito Santiago to ground out to shortstop Mariano Duncan.

Eric Show, the Padre starter, says when he saw this, he immediately turned to Deacon Jones, the Padre batting instructor, and said: “Wow! That could break our backs right there.”

Show then went out and gave up solo homers to Duncan in the third inning and first baseman Franklin Stubbs in the fifth. Gwynn had hit an RBI double in the second inning, so the score was 2-1 entering the bottom of the fifth.

Hershiser hit Cora with a pitch, and then Cora scored the tying run when right fielder Mike Marshall dove for but missed Martinez’s line drive to right.

Marshall later said he should have made the catch.

But here is where Hershiser performed his second great escape. The Padres went on to load the bases with one out for Kevin Mitchell, and Mitchell grounded weakly into a double play.

Still, the Dodgers gave in as well. In the sixth with no one out, Steve Sax singled and went to third on catcher Santiago’s throwing error. But Show struck out Mike Ramsey and Pedro Guerrero, getting him on a slow curve that made the crowd of 28,686 say “Ohhhhhh.” Then, the inning ended when Marshall lined out to third.

“To me, that was the game,” Show said. “I got out of it.”

Typically, then, these teams went to extra innings for yet another one-run game.

Tony Gwynn--who had never before had five hits in one game--made it work for the Padres.

“I hope Chris can be as good,” Hershiser said. “He was 2 for 3 this spring when he pinch-hit for me. The first time he made an out, I said, ‘Don’t let it happen again.’ He’s a good kid.”

Padre Notes Manager Larry Bowa gave his team a pregame pep talk. “That’s why I say this was a must win situation for us,” pitcher Eric Show said. “He said we’ve got some talent here and he said: ‘Let’s go!’ He said we aren’t as bad as we’re playing and then he said: ‘Let’s beat someone!’ Of course, you can imagine some of the stronger words he used.” Before Bowa’s talk to the team, Padre general manager Jack McKeon gave Bowa his own private pep talk. “I told him not to take the losses so personally,” McKeon said. “He’s putting it all on his shoulders. This isn’t a bad team.”. . . Third baseman Kevin Mitchell had a rough day. He struck out with the bases loaded in the first inning, struck out in the third inning, grounded into a double play with the bases loaded in the fifth inning, and failed to bunt a runner over to second in the eighth inning. Bowa said he’s thinking about giving Mitchell the day off Saturday.