Padres Defeat Braves; Bowa Gets the Credit

Appropriately Thursday, when it was all said and won, after enough pitching changes and sacrifice bunts and strategy to fill up a scorecard, the last man left on the field was Padre Manager Larry Bowa.

His team had defeated the Atlanta Braves, 7-4, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Padres did it after falling behind, 4-3, in the eighth inning.

They did it with a game-tying RBI by a hustling pinch-hitter. They did it with a game-winning RBI in the ninth after a sacrifice bunt by one of baseball’s hottest hitters. They did it by stopping three consecutive batters with three relief pitchers.

After they had done it and completed their first winning trip of the season (5-4), Bowa trotted out to the center of the field, as he always does after a win. He congratulated all the players as they left their positions for the dugout.

Only this time he waited. He waited until his last player, Tony Gwynn, had jogged in from right field. He slapped hands with Gwynn and then waited some more and then finally, slowly, alone, trotted into the dugout.

Although Bowa would never admit it, it was as if he knew that for once in this embattled, lose-his-voice-every-game season, he was clearly the hero.

“He made all the right moves, he called everything perfect,” said starting pitcher Ed Whitson, who didn’t get the win but had a heck of a time anyway. “He doesn’t play for the tie, he plays for the win, and tonight, everything worked.”

Added Garry Templeton: “The veterans can tell that Larry’s doing things a little differently than when he started, using everybody in the same situations over and over, doing the same things, being consistent. We all know our jobs, guys are more prepared now, guys are more relaxed.”

The Padres flew home Thursday night after winning one of three in Cincinnati, two of three in Houston, and two of three here. Beginning tonight against Houston and Mike Scott, they open a 10-game home stand against the same three teams. The last-place Padres trail Atlanta by 6 1/2 games and the Dodgers by 7 1/2.

“It’s a big, big home stand,” said Bowa. “I’d be lying if I said it wouldn’t be nice to jump over anybody in the standings, but we’ve still got to take one game at a time.”

Thursday evening, he leaned back in his office chair and pushed away his plate of fried chicken and smiled so wide, it was if he wasn’t ready to think ahead just yet. He was having too much fun thinking about this last one . . . thinking about how:

With the score tied, 4-4, in the ninth, the Padres put runners on first and second with no outs thanks to an error by third baseman Ken Oberkfell and a single by Tony Gwynn. The next batter, John Kruk, had hit .455 against the Braves this year, with four homers and 15 RBIs. The Braves had already shown their respect in this game by intentionally walking him twice.

So what happened? He laid down a bunt, moving the runners to second and third, setting up Chris Brown, who was in a 2-for-13 slump in this series, and who already in this game had stranded six men on base.

“I’m on first and I can’t believe Kruk is bunting,” said Gwynn.

Except this season, even Gwynn, the National League’s leading hitter, has bunted. In this situation, Bowa always calls for a bunt.

“You know, I was kind of expecting it,” said Kruk. “As long as you’re consistent, that’s fine, and he is consistent.”

So what happened? Brown grounded the first pitch to third baseman Oberkfell for the second out, and nobody went anywhere. But then Benito Santiago stepped up and placed an 0-and-2 pitch into the hole between shortstop and third, and a run from third base scored, a run that wouldn’t have scored from second base. And the Padres won.

Said Gwynn: “I see that and I think, ‘All right, good move, Larry’s done it again.’ ”

“No, I wasn’t second-guessing myself,” said Bowa. “I’m trying to win, I’m not worrying about hurting anybody’s feelings. I’ve got confidence in Brown. I’ve got to bunt.”

In the eighth inning, with the Padres trailing, 4-3, runners found their way to first and third with one out after a single by Santiago, a sacrifice bunt by Templeton and an error by pitcher Gene Garber.

Time for the pitcher to bat, time for a powerful or good-sighted pinch-hitter to tie this game up, maybe Carmelo Martinez, maybe Randy Ready, maybe . . . Marvell Wynne?

Garber pitches right-handed, Wynne bats left-handed, and Bowa usually goes by that page of the book. Also Wynne runs well, and the last thing the Padres needed was a double play. So Wynne was it.

And what happened? Wynne hit a double-play grounder, but his speed forced a rushed, bouncing throw from shortstop Andres Thomas to pitcher Garber covering the bag. Garber couldn’t hang on to the ball. Wynne was safe, the run scored from third, and the score was tied.

“All I knew was, don’t hit into a double play,” said Wynne, who has 7 RBIs in 14 pinch-hit attempts. “I thought I had a chance to beat it out, and when I saw that ball by my feet, I knew I had.”

“That situation is just right for Marvell,” said Bowa. “And he knows it.”

After the Braves had taken that 4-3 lead in the seventh with a Ron Roenicke pinch-hit homer off Mark Davis, Bowa had a dilemma. He had three middle-to-short relievers left for two innings against a lineup with a mixture of left- and right-handed hitters.

He played it just the way he has played this bullpen since the addition of the two San Francisco Giants (Davis and Keith Comstock). He brought the left-handed Comstock in to start the eighth and told him just not to walk either of the first two left-handed batters. Then he brought in right-hander Lance McCullers to face the right-handed-hitting Dale Murphy. Then he brought in closer Goose Gossage to do just that.

So what happened? Comstock retired lefties Oberkfell and Gerald Perry on six pitches (groundout, popout). McCullers struck out Murphy on four pitches. Gossage finished the ninth allowing just a Graig Nettles fly ball that Gwynn lost in the lights for an error.