Brown Gives Padres 4-3 Victory in 10th

The important thing Monday night was not Chris Brown’s swing, or the contact it made with the ball, or how that ball floated over the head of Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Denny Gonzalez and into a 4-3 Padre victory.

The important thing was what happened after Chris Brown’s 10th-inning, full-count, game-winning single.

He rounded first base, clapped his hands once, turned, began walking hesitantly toward the dugout . . . and there they were.

Teammates. Some jogging, some running, all of them hugging and high-fiving. One was Marvell Wynne, whom Brown had punched just last week after he thought some clubhouse ribbing had gone too far. Several others were those who have carried jokes about Brown’s inability to play with injuries even further.

He was cheered, he was complimented, he was warmed. One year to the day after he arrived here from the San Francisco Giants, Chris Brown finally met guys who weren’t just teammates, but his teammates.

All of which made for a sense that Monday night’s bases-loaded single off Jim Gott in front of 36,746 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium did not mark an ending, but a beginning.

“I hope it is,” said a beaming Brown afterward. “I think this proves on the field, we are a team no matter what happens. Nobody holds a grudge. Off the field, in the parking lot, in the liquor store, guys can beat each other’s brains out. But on the field, we are a team.

“I hope this is the start of a second half of this season that is much better and prosperous than the first half.”

If Monday night was any indication, it will at least be dramatic. The Padres took a 3-1 lead after four innings behind some of Eric Show’s best stuff, then lost it when Show was abruptly pulled for Mark Davis in the ninth. Davis allowed two runs, the tying run on a wild pitch.

The Padres couldn’t score after putting a runner on third in the ninth, but then Davis retired the Pirates in the 10th, and thus set up the game-winning rally.

Roberto Alomar, who had doubled and scored on Keith Moreland’s double in the third, led off the 10th against Pirate stopper Gott with a single to left. Tony Gwynn, who couldn’t get down a bunt, followed with an 0-and-2 single to left.

“Best swing I’ve had in a long time,” Gwynn said.

Shane Mack then laid down one of the best bunts by a Padre in a long time, bouncing the ball high down the first base line and moving the runners to second and third. It was such a good bunt, Mack nearly turned it into a single.

“I was still trying to beat it out,” Mack said. “I thought maybe they couldn’t get to it or they would lose it in the lights.”

An intentional walk to Tim Flannery loaded the bases for Brown, who an inning earlier had singled, and is now 11 for his last 30 (.367) and has improved his overall average to .252.

“I just wanted to go up and get good wood on the ball,” Brown said. “I agree that the only pressure is the kind you put on yourself. I was thinking about pressure.”

He swung so hard at the first pitch--and missed--you would have thought he was aiming for the border.

“I missed that ball from here to Mexico,” Brown said. “He was throwing tough.”

But this time Brown was tougher, fouling off another good pitch and working the count to 2-2 before taking what looked like a good inside pitch for ball three.

“Could have gone either way,” Brown said. “It was such a good pitch, it froze me. I locked up. I heard the umpire call it a ball and I thought, good, I’ve got second life.”

Gott’s next pitch, with most of the crowd standing and hollering, was “straight down the middle of the plate,” according to Brown.

After all that work, it was simply a matter of putting his bat on the ball.

“I just made contact and put it out there,” Brown said.

And now it’s simply a matter of putting his controversial past here behind him. That began Monday when one of the first to congratulate him was Wynne.

“It was good to see him get the game-winning hit, and swinging the bat good like he is,” said Wynne, whose left eye is no longer swollen from last week’s punch. “He came up in a crucial situation and cashed in on it, and that’s good.”

“Great piece of hitting,” Gwynn said. “We are a better team with Brown in there.”

As happy as anyone with Brown’s first 1988 game-winning run-batted in was Manager Jack McKeon.

“He has been subject to a lot of uncalled for abuse lately, and it was great to see guys standing in the dugout cheering him, and surrounding him in the clubhouse,” McKeon said. “Like I’ve been saying, we win as a team.”

Brown, who has started just 42 of the Padres’ 83 games even though he had not been on the disabled list, hopes the atmosphere can stay that way. He thinks that the fight might have actually started things in the right direction.

“It was like a big sonic boom clearing the air,” Brown said of the fight. “I wish it had never happened, but we have to get over it, and I think we are.”

Of course, as you may have guessed, they never should have needed Brown on Monday night in the first place. Thanks to a two-run double by Garry Templeton and the RBI double by Moreland, the Padres had taken a 3-1 lead after four innings and held it until the ninth, when Jose Lind led off by beating out a grounder to Templeton for an infield single.

Out walked Show and in came Davis, even though Show had allowed only 4 hits and retired 15 of 17 batters before the infield single.

“I’ve been doing it that way since I’ve been here; Eric had pitched good enough to get a win, and that’s all I can ask of him, it was time to get Davis in there,” McKeon said of his switch. “And Eric deserved to get that win.”

But Davis’ fourth pitch was hammered to center field for a double by Andy Van Slyke, moving Lind to third. Bobby Bonilla’s weak grounder to shortstop was enough to score Lind and moved Van Slyke to third.

Davis’ next pitch, to Darnell Coles, twisted into the dirt in front of home plate and bounced high over Santiago’s head. By the time Santiago picked it up at the base of the backstop, Van Slyke had scored and the score was tied.

PADRES AT A GLANCE

SECOND INNING

Padres--With one out, Moreland walked. Brown struck out. Santiago singled to center, Moreland stopping at second. Templeton doubled to right-center, Moreland and Santiago scoring. Templeton reached third on Van Slyke’s fielding error. Show grounded to third. Two runs, two hits, one left.

THIRD INNING

Padres--With one out, Alomar doubled to left. Gwynn walked. Kruk struck out. Moreland doubled over the left-field fence, Alomar scoring and Gwynn stopping at third. Brown walked. Santiago struck out. One run, two hits, three left.

FOURTH INNING

Pirates--With one out, Lind homered to left, his second. Van Slyke grounded to second. Bonilla grounded to shortstop. One run, one hit.

NINTH INNING

Pirates--Lind beat out a grounder to shortstop. Davis replaced Show. Van Slyke doubled to left-center, Lind stopping at third. Bonilla grounded to shortstop, Lind scoring and Van Slyke taking third. Van Slyke scored on a wild pitch. Coles struck out. Bream grounded to the pitcher. Two runs, two hits.

TENTH INNING

Padres--Alomar singled to left. Gwynn singled to left, Alomar stopping at second. Mack sacrificed. Flannery, batting for Davis, was walked intentionally, loading the bases. Brown singled to left, Alomar scoring. One run, three hits.