Padres Survive Scare, Hold Off Phillies, 6-5

Padre prayers seem to be answered only on Sundays, but winning once a week is hardly the way to catapult out of last place.

For the fourth time in six Sundays this season, the Padres did the unthinkable and won. They defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5, in a game that Padre Manager Larry Bowa called “the worst game we’ve played as far as making mistakes.” But the Phillies made more mistakes than the Padres and fell about two feet short of winning.

Two feet, that’s how close Philadelphia’s Mike Schmidt came to blasting a game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth. Padre reliever Lance McCullers--who hadn’t saved a game in two weeks--got two quick outs in the ninth, but then walked Jeff Stone and Juan Samuel and found himself facing Schmidt, who had hit a home run about 45 minutes earlier.

McCullers’ first pitch to Schmidt curved magnificently, and Schmidt whiffed at it. McCullers’ second pitch was supposed to be the same, but it curved only a tad, and Schmidt made contact.

Judging from the sound of bat meeting ball, it was a tape-measure shot. Everybody thought so . . .

Bowa: “I thought it was out. I looked at my center fielder (Stan Jefferson), and he gave up at first.”

McCullers: “It freaked me out when he first hit it.”

First baseman John Kruk: “When he hit it, I said, ‘Oh no!’ Then it looked like Stanley was near Marvell (Wynne in left field), and I said, ‘Oh no! They’re going to run into each other!’ About 100 negative things came into my head when he hit it.”

Jefferson nearly did run into Wynne, and wouldn’t that have been typical? Already in this game, there had been two Padre collisions on pop-ups. Not to mention two throwing errors--one by shortstop Garry Templeton and one by second baseman Joey Cora, both in the eighth inning.

But Jefferson heard Wynne screaming, “I got it! I got it!” And he backed off. Wynne, touching the outfield wall, made the catch.

“It was like the seventh game of the World Series,” Wynne said. “I caught it and squeezed it with both hands. A victory!”

They are so few and far between. The Padres had lost five straight and 10 of 11. Bowa, who was hardly lucid after Saturday’s 9-0 loss, managed to break a smile Sunday.

“Yeah, that might have been our worst game, but it’ll look beautiful tomorrow morning when the paper says, ‘Padres 6, Phillies 5,’ ” Bowa said.

Winning pitcher Andy Hawkins (1-5) then interrupted Bowa’s postgame news conference to plop down a beer on Bowa’s office desk. Hawkins explained later that it was his way of saying, “We’ve both been battling in the trenches. This one’s for us. Drink and enjoy.”

Bowa drank up.

Just 10 days ago, Hawkins was feuding with Bowa, who found fault with his pitching. Hawkins, meanwhile, found fault with Bowa’s managing. They ended up having a closed-door shouting match. But all that is ancient history now.

“We cleared the air,” Hawkins said Sunday. “He knows me a lot better now. Before, he had no idea where I was coming from.”

Sunday, Hawkins became the first Padre starter since May 4 to last more than eight innings. He appeared to be finished in the sixth when Schmidt blasted a leadoff homer and Von Hayes followed with a single. But Hawkins picked off Hayes at first base to ruin the Phillies’ momentum.

Meanwhile, the Padres had a 6-3 lead entering the eighth. Kevin Mitchell hit a three-run homer in the fourth. Kruk doubled and scored on a passed ball in the sixth, and he also doubled in two runs in the seventh. The eighth inning was a nightmare, but the Padres woke up in time to win.

In the eighth, Stone led off against Hawkins with a double to left, and Bowa called for McCullers. Later, with one out, Schmidt grounded a ball to shortstop Templeton, who threw way over Kruk’s head at first base. Stone scored.

An unnerved McCullers walked Hayes on four pitches, and then Phillie right fielder Glenn Wilson grounded to Cora at second base, a perfect double-play ball. But Cora hardly made a perfect throw, as Templeton had to leap high in the air. He didn’t catch the ball, and the Phillies had runners on first and third.

Pinch-hitter Greg Gross just missed a home run to right, but his fly ball to the warning track was a sacrifice-fly RBI.

So the Padres had a one-run lead entering the ninth.

“We made it interesting, didn’t we?” Bowa said. “With our team, there are three phases--I hope I can, I think I can and I know I can. Right now, we’re still in ‘I hope we can.’ But I’m hoping by July we can get to the second stage.”

And Kruk said: “I was talking to Glenn Wilson at first base in the eighth inning, and I told him, ‘We’re giving this game back to you.’ And he said: “Hey, the way we’re playing, we won’t take it.’ ”

And they didn’t. McCullers got Schmidt to make that long last out, and Bowa sprinted out to McCullers for a handshake.

“Larry didn’t really say much to me,” McCullers said. “Basically, he just said, ‘Phew.’ ”

Padre Notes

Rookie second baseman Joey Cora had a rough time Sunday. Besides making a throwing error, he let a pop fly fall in front of him and was involved in two collisions. The first collision came in the fourth inning on a pop-up to shallow left. Cora, shortstop Garry Templeton and left-fielder James Steels all ran for it, and Cora bumped Steels, who bumped Templeton. Templeton made the catch and fell down. Then, in the sixth inning, there was a pop fly to shallow right. Cora bumped into first baseman John Kruk, who made the catch and then fell down. “Joey, he’s going through some stuff right now,” Manager Larry Bowa said. “It’ll either make him or break him. I’ll keep throwing him out there, but he’s on a roller-coaster ride right now. And I’m on the ride with him.” Cora said: “I want to make ‘This Week in Baseball.’ But they’ll start calling it ‘This Week With Joey’ instead.”