One More Time: Jones, Reds Walk Past Padres

On Tuesday night, when Padre reliever Lance McCullers walked Cincinnati’s Tracy Jones with the bases loaded to force in the winning run, everybody in the Padre clubhouse chalked it up to just one more thing on this infernal trip that they might never see again.

Everybody was wrong.

Same trip, two days later, they saw it again. As if struck by a sudden strong wind, or amnesia, reliever Mark Davis shriveled in the 10th inning Thursday and allowed three consecutive walks after a single to give the Reds the victory.

The final score? Same as Tuesday night, 4-3.

The final scene? Same as Tuesday night, Tracy Jones pinch-hitting with the bases loaded.

Although on Tuesday night Jones stretched the count full on McCullers before he walked, he never even moved Thursday. As quick as four consecutive balls, he walked almost embarrassedly to first base, and Barry Larkin walked home, and that was that.

As quick as four consecutive balls, Kal Daniels had earlier walked to follow Larkin’s single. Chris Sabo then worked a full count before walking, loading the bases for Jones.

As quick as four consecutive balls, the Padres ended the trip with a 7-8 record and a serious case of the mutters. Four of those losses were sealed in the opponent’s final at-bat.

“It’s a crying shame they would win both games here the same way,” pitching coach Pat Dobson said, shaking his head. “That guy gets two game-winning RBI, and he ain’t got a hit! He goes down there, touches the bag, and he wins the game.

“And there’s nothing you can do. You just sit there and watch and go ‘Ohhh.’ With each ball, you slump over a little more.”

Said Tony Gwynn, who took approximately three hours to walk in from right field afterward: “I have not seen that in a while. Used to be, we’d get two outs and then get beat with a homer. Boom. Game over, we’re out of here. This way is more agonizing.”

Agonizing, such as losing to the Dodgers, 5-4, on June 19 when Davis allowed an 11th-inning single to Kirk Gibson.

Or losing to the Giants, 8-7, three days later when Davis blew a three-run lead in the ninth.

Or losing Tuesday night, when McCullers inherited a bases-loaded mess and walked Jones.

With a little late hitting and more precise relief pitching, the Padres easily could be coming home 11-4 instead of 7-8.

Of course, they easily could have come home minus their nervous systems. The trip included a fistfight, a verbal fight between a player and the manager, a major lineup switch, a batting lineup mixup that helped the Padres win a game, a major clubhouse scolding and a 5 1/2-game drop in the standings after they opened it with a doubleheader sweep of the Dodgers.

Either way, as they begin their final nine games before the All-Star break 12 games behind the first-place Dodgers--or 3 1/2 games worse than when they left--they are counting their blessings.

“We easily could have had a magnificent trip,” said shortstop Garry Templeton, one of several Padres who played a splendid game Thursday. “It’s a learning process, but we’re learning, and I think it’s a matter of time before we’ll explode and tear past some teams. Some teams are waiting for us to kill ‘em, and we are feeling like we can do that.

“We all feel we can do something to help the team win. It’s the type of attitude we haven’t had since Dick Williams (managed). Nobody is saying, ‘You can’t do this’ or ‘You can’t do that.’ Everything is positive.”

Thursday was positively frustrating, as well as fitting. Wouldn’t you know that a trip that began in Los Angeles with 47 innings in 52 hours would end with the Padres’ hands in their pockets?

Said Marvell Wynne, whose fourth-inning homer was his ninth of the season: “It was the kind of game where, when it ends, you just stand there and say, ‘Dang.’ ”

It was the kind of loss about which “dang” is a mild reaction. Padre starter Jimmy Jones had survived a three-run first inning to turn in one of his best seven-inning stints of the year. The Padre offense had come back with Wynne’s homer and Templeton’s two-run double to tie it, 3-3, after five innings.

McCullers took over in the eighth and, despite two rocky innings with two walks and a hit, was still able to give the ball to Davis to begin the 10th.

This same Davis had 14 saves (second in the National League) in 15 opportunities and had 58 strikeouts with just 21 walks in 50 innings. This same guy is the Padres’ certain All-Star selection in two weeks.

This same guy finished Wednesday’s 3-2 victory by striking out the final two Red batters on seven pitches. And he was the same guy who began Thursday’s 10th by retiring pinch-hitters Dave Concepcion and Nick Esasky on flyouts.

But then something happened. It was so strange, Davis never felt it.

“I didn’t feel I was any different. I didn’t feel I was all over the plate,” Davis said calmly afterward. “I actually felt good.”

But then Larkin plopped a ball over the middle, and Daniels walked four pitches later, and up came Sabo.

“I wasn’t panicking or anything,” Davis said. “I’ve had worse days and gotten people out. I knew where I had to throw the ball, and I thought I threw it there.”

He probably did. But Davis’ curveball off-speed game is a game of inches. And although he was close, well, he never closed.

He went to a full count on Sabo and then threw an outside curveball that may have just crossed the black of the plate. But umpire Bruce Froemming called it ball four.

“I thought I had him,” Davis said. “I guess not.”

In stepped Tracy Jones, and everybody knew what he was looking to do.

“No way he was trying to hit,” Gwynn said. “You could tell by the way he was standing, he was looking for a walk.”

And he got it, beginning with three consecutive pitches that were undisputed balls. Then, just for effect, as Davis was winding up for the fourth pitch, as the crowd was coming to its feet, Jones stepped out of the batter’s box.

“I thought I’d irritate the pitcher,” Jones said. “I like to irritate players on other teams.”

Right then, Davis realized what he had wrought.

“For the first time, before that last pitch, I realized I may walk this guy and cost us the game,” Davis said. “All along, I did not feel as if I was walking people. Not that I was throwing strikes, but not that I was throwing terrible.”

The last pitch crossed the plate, but too high, and Davis had his third loss on the trip and sixth loss in eight decisions. It seems he can get everyone out of jams but himself.

“I don’t know what happened,” Dobson said. “He is going to have days like that. You just hope they are few and far between.”

And hope they aren’t on days when Padre veterans such as Templeton and Tim Flannery choose to show off.

Besides his two-run double to right field off hard-throwing Jose Rijo in the fifth--giving him nine RBIs in his past five games--Templeton was even more spectacular on a grounder. With one out in the 10th, he beat out a routine roller to shortstop Larkin for a single, one of the first of those pure infield hits by the Padres all season.

“I just hit it and ran like anything,” Templeton said, smiling.

He was followed by Randy Ready’s walk, but then the Reds’ top reliever, John Franco, replaced rookie Rob Dibble, and Wynne and Roberto Alomar went down on grounders. It was one of two great Padre threats in the last two innings. They put runners on first and second with one out in the eighth, but Gwynn hit the ball right back to left-handed reliever Rob Murphy for a double play.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Reds staged their own rally against McCullers, putting runners on first and second with one out. Rookie Sabo, who leads the major leagues with 28 doubles, appeared to win the game with another one on a smash down the third-base line.

But Flannery, in what may well have been the defensive play of the season, dove and stopped the ball in the chalk, then crawled to third base to get the force out and end the inning.

“It was a reaction play, which is why I like playing third,” said Flannery, who probably will begin playing there often under Manager Jack McKeon’s revolving lineup theory. “I think it’s because you don’t have time to figure things out.”

PADRES AT A GLANCE

FIRST INNING

Reds--With one out, Daniels homered to right, his eighth. Sabo grounded to third. O’Neill walked. Davis homered to left, his 13th. Durham lined to right. Three runs, two hits.

FOURTH INNING

Padres--Wynne homered to right, his ninth. Alomar grounded to second. Gwynn lined to third. Kruk flied to right. One run, one hit.

FIFTH INNING

Padres--With one out, Santiago singled to right. Flannery hit a ground-rule double to left, Santiago stopping at third. Templeton doubled to right, Santiago and Flannery scoring. Jones and Wynne struck out. Two runs, three hits, one left.

10TH INNING

Reds--Davis pitching. With two out, Larkin singled to right. Daniels walked. Sabo walked, loading the bases. Jones, batting for O’Neill, walked, Larkin scoring. One run, one hit.