When It’s Storm, It Pours; Astros Drench Padres, 10-1

Not only did Storm Davis give up a grand slam Wednesday night, but he slammed a pitch into his best friend’s rib cage.

Storm Davis, Padre pitcher, grew up side-by-side with Glenn Davis, the Astros’ power-hitter. They’re not exactly related, but Glenn moved in with Storm’s family when he was having problems with his own folks. As Storm puts it, “We’re brothers, even though we’re not brothers.”

In the fourth inning Wednesday night, Storm lost control and hit Glenn in the ribs with a fastball. Soon, the bases were loaded for Alan Ashby, the Astro catcher, who belted a grand slam off a 3-and-2 fastball.

The Astros ended up winning, 10-1, on a night when the best Padre pitcher--statistically--was utilityman Luis Salazar.

That’s right. Salazar came in to pitch the eighth inning and didn’t give up a hit. Manager Larry Bowa needed him because rookie reliever Ray Hayward gave up six runs in the fifth and had to be taken out and because Greg Booker (no hits, but two walks in two innings) became tired.

Salazar retired Astro reliever Ron Mathis, walked center fielder Billy Hatcher, forced second baseman Jim Pankovits to ground out to third and got third baseman Denny Walling to bounce back to the mound.

“I threw a no-hitter!” he said.

Salazar said he’d never pitched in a game before, not even in Little League. But he said he threw changeups, screwballs, curveballs and fastballs. He said he probably threw 90 or 92 m.p.h., but a speed gun timed his best fastball at 85 m.p.h.

“I changed speeds,” Salazar said. “Walling wanted to go deep on me, so I turned it over (threw breaking balls).”

Goose Gossage, listening to Salazar’s interview, asked him: “Give me help with my breaking ball tomorrow, man.”

“OK,” Salazar said.

Storm Davis, according to Bowa, needs help. Davis, who walked three in four innings, is 1-7.

“He’s doing the same thing as before,” Bowa said. “You can’t pitch behind. He can’t get any of his off-speed pitches over at all, and he doesn’t throw hard enough to blow it by people, so he’s in trouble.”

Storm said: “The hardest part of the game for me is between the ears. If you start getting confidence, you’ll be aggressive. My confidence, and I admit it, is on shaky ground sometimes.”

He said the last thing he wanted was to hit his buddy Glenn. They went to University Christian High School together in Jacksonville, Fla., and Storm had faced Glenn only once before--in an intrasquad game.

“He homered off me that day,” Storm said with a giggle. “He hit one over the school.”

But Wednesday’s memories won’t be so fond.

Padre Notes

The Padres blew two big opportunities Wednesday night. In the first inning, the eventual winning pitcher, Mike Scott, walked James Steels and Tony Gwynn with one out. But John Kruk struck out. Catcher Benito Santiago then barely missed a three-run homer to left as the ball curved foul. Santiago struck out to end the inning. In the fourth, Scott walked Gwynn and Kruk, and Santiago singled to load the bases with no outs. But Tim Flannery hit into a double play and Shane Mack struck out. . . . Eric Show is supposed to pitch tonight’s game at San Francisco, but he pulled a muscle in his back Monday and is still a little sore. If he can’t go, Jimmy Jones will take his place.