Cubs Take Fifth, and Padres Lose Fifth in Row, 6-3

You really have to hand it to those fun Padres. In the course of losing 16 of their first 25 games this season, they have proven one thing. They really know how to throw an inning.

Just Wednesday night, they threw another wild one, threw a fifth inning the way the guys of “Animal House” threw study sessions. It was a fifth inning that seemingly lasted five years and eventually resulted in a 6-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs in front of 15,570 unamused fans at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Moments after taking a 2-0 lead in the fourth on their first back-to-back homers (Keith Moreland and Benito Santiago) since their home opener of 1987 , the Padres gave back four runs on just two hits.

The fifth inning led off with two consecutive walks and ended with four consecutive fielding blunders, including two consecutive errors by pitcher Andy Hawkins without a pitch in between--and when’s the last time you saw that?

The inning was so bad, the best play for the Padres was another 200 m.p.h. rocket by Andre Dawson, aimed directly at the outfield seats. It was the best play because, unlike three others in this series, it did not leave the park, as Tony Gwynn caught it on the warning track to end the inning. But by then, the Cubs had scored four runs and another knockout.

Hawkins, coming off three wins in a row, allowed just four hits and two earned runs in his five innings, but he also allowed two unearned runs after those two fifth-inning walks and finished as one of the few pitchers to leave a game with more errors (2) than strikeouts (0).

“That inning says it all,” Manager Larry Bowa said afterward. “Two walks, two errors and a missed double play.”

“When things are going bad,” second baseman Roberto Alomar said, “they go bad like I don’t know what.”

Here’s how bad. As the Padres dropped their fifth consecutive game for the second time this season, their gift horse has devoured them. Because of the three rainouts in Los Angeles, they have played 18 of their past 19 games at home . . . but during that time, they have gone just 8-10.

The home stretch ended Wednesday. Beginning Friday in Pittsburgh, they must take a 1-6 road record out for 16 of their next 26 games. All are in homes of East Division opponents, where last season the Padres went 9-27.

“It might be better to go on the road,” Bowa said. “Look at it this way--it can’t get any worse.”

Let’s start with the pleasant surprise of the fourth. With one out, Moreland drove a ball into the left-field seats for his first homer since the final game of 1987, back when he was still a Cub. Three pitches later, Santiago, who entered the game in a 3-for-25 skid, hit a ball a few feet farther for his third homer. It was the first back-to-back homers for the Padres since they set a big-league record with three in a row to start the game in their April 13, 1987, home opener against San Francisco.

And through four innings, Hawkins had been excellent, allowing just two hits. But he has been excellent in the first four innings of his previous three starts as well. In the first four innings of his past four starts--16 total innings--Hawkins has allowed no runs on just five hits.

But now for the fifth.

Hawkins started the inning by walking the .207-hitting Manny Trillo. He then walked--on four pitches--rookie first baseman Mark Grace. One pitch later, with Jim Sundberg hitting, the runners took off. Sundberg knocked the ball into right field, executing the perfect hit-and-run, scoring Trillo, moving Grace to third and setting up all these problems.

In order:

* Shawon Dunston hit a sharp double-play grounder to shortstop Garry Templeton. But somewhere between Templeton and Alomar, there was a hesitation and perhaps a bit of a bobble, and the double play was lost. Another run scores, one out, a runner on first.

“The ball got caught in my glove,” Alomar said. “Those things happen.”

* Pitcher Rick Sutcliffe hits a sharp double-play grounder to Hawkins. He spins and fires and gives new meaning to the term “wild pitch.” The ball sails over second base and the outstretched arms of Templeton. Dunston races safely into second, Sutcliffe is safe at first, Shawn Abner picks up the ball in center field and, wait . . . Dunston overruns second. Abner throws the ball back to Templeton for the easy out. Except Templeton is not on the base, and Dunston dives back safely and easily.

“I was going to go to third, but Abner was hustling, so I couldn’t,” Dunston said. “I slid under the tag. Templeton wasn’t on the bag because he didn’t know I rounded the base until somebody hollered. I think it was Alomar.”

* Obviously possessing a short memory, Dunston strays off second before Hawkins can throw a pitch to the next batter. Hawkins spins and fires and gives new meaning to the term “bean ball.” The ball hits a diving Dunston in the right lower back and bounds into center field. Dunston limps to third, later to be removed from the game. Sutcliffe goes to second. A groundout and single later, the Cubs had two more runs.

“I wasn’t going to run to third because I couldn’t breathe,” Dunston said. “But the ball was far enough away.”

With the 4-2 lead, the Cubs made sure that at least some San Diego fans eventually went away happy. Their fifth run was scored on a 385-foot homer by Grace, a former San Diego State star. Finishing his first big-league series in style, Grace bounced a sixth-inning Keith Comstock fastball off the wall behind left-center field, just missing, by feet, the Cubs’ logo. Recalled by the team Monday from triple-A Iowa, Grace has been just short of amazing, going 5 for 11 with a double and homer and five runs scored.

Padre Notes

When the newest Padre pitcher, Keith Comstock, finally showed up in the clubhouse early Wednesday afternoon--a day late and a game short--he quickly realized something was wrong. “Mark Davis was looking at me funny, and then he said, ‘Renegotiating our contract, are we?’ ” Comstock recalled. He soon learned what Davis and other surprised-looking teammates were talking about. They had expected him in uniform Tuesday night, shortly after he was recalled from triple-A Las Vegas. When he didn’t show up, Padre Manager Larry Bowa had to suffer through a 13-5 loss to Chicago with just four relievers. After the game, Bowa was angry and wanting an explanation. Wednesday afternoon, Comstock offered this: He was told of Dave Leiper’s move to the disabled list, and his own recall, at 4 p.m. Tuesday. He was put on a 5:30 p.m. flight. He packed his things and rushed to the airport and still missed the flight. With the next flight not leaving until 7, and not arriving in San Diego until 8:20, Comstock climbed back in his truck and began driving to San Diego, a drive that he said involved one traffic jam and spanned 6 1/2 hours and a night spent in Baker, Calif. Why not catch that later flight, which would have put him in the Padre clubhouse just about the time they were needing him Tuesday? “I panicked,” Comstock said. “I wanted to go so bad, and get there so quick. I wanted to get out of Las Vegas before they changed their minds. I never knew it would turn out like this. Just another adventure in the career of Keith Comstock.” He and Bowa met before the game, and Comstock hopes they patched up any misunderstanding. “I looked at him and said, ‘Larry, you know me, I have busted my butt to make the major leagues. You know I did all I could.” Said Bowa later: “Comstock said he missed a flight.” Leiper was placed on the disabled list for a recurrence of the elbow tendinitis that disabled him at the start of the season. In 12 innings at Las Vegas, Comstock was 1-0 with a 2.92 ERA and 7 saves.

Bowa met with Chub Feeney, Padre president, and Jack McKeon, general manager, early Wednesday afternoon to discuss personnel. The major result of the meeting could be seen in Wednesday’s starting lineup. Right-handed hitting Shawn Abner, despite the presence of right-handed pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, was starting in center field. For Abner, there will be no more platooning with Marvell Wynne. Either Abner will prove he belongs in the starting lineup or he will be sent back to triple-A, most likely for Shane Mack. He probably will have a couple of weeks to improve on his .192 average entering Wednesday’s game. “We’ll leave him out there and see how he does,” Bowa said. “If he’s struggling late in a game, we may pinch-hit for him, but that’s it. We have to see if he can do it.” Wynne, meanwhile, will return to his comfortable role of left-handed pinch-hitter and late-inning defensive replacement.