Baseball Roundup : Lowly Padres Score 10, Lose by 7 to Cardinals

The last thing St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog wanted to do was dip into his bullpen with a 14-0 lead going into the seventh inning.

But the San Diego Padres scored five runs in the seventh to chase starter Bob Forsch and five more in the ninth off Ray Soff before the Cardinals nailed down a 17-10 victory Thursday at San Diego.

“Have you ever seen anything like that? I never have,” Herzog said. “I wonder what was the biggest blown lead in the final inning in history? This one had all the makings.”

The Padres came into the ninth, trailing, 17-5, and sent six batters to the plate and scored five times before Soff was replaced. Pat Perry came on, allowed an infield single for San Diego’s seventh consecutive hit and then retired the side without further incident.

The Padres ended up with season highs of 10 runs and 17 hits. The Cardinals also had 17 hits.

“Can you imagine, we get 10 runs in a game and we’re not even close?” said Padre Manager Larry Bowa, whose team is 7-23 and has lost 7 of its last 9.

For the Cardinals, Skeeter Barnes, in his first at-bat of the season after being called up from Louisville, hit a three-run homer, and Jack Clark hit a solo homer.

San Francisco 11, Chicago 1--Former Angel Rob Wilfong hit a two-run homer in his second National League at-bat to open the scoring as the Giants breezed to victory at Candlestick Park.

Mike LaCoss (3-1) allowed 7 hits in 6 innings and struck out a career-high 9 batters in his first start since April 12.

Wilfong, the fifth player to start at second base for the Giants this season, connected off Ed Lynch (1-2). Wilfong, who hit only 38 homers in 10 American League seasons with Minnesota and the Angels, was signed as a free agent Tuesday and was called up after playing two games for Phoenix.

Minnesota 5, Baltimore 2--Gary Gaetti had three hits and drove in two runs, and Frank Viola snapped a personal four-game losing streak as the Twins beat the Orioles at Minneapolis. Viola (2-4) went 7 innings and allowed 6 hits.