Padres’ Rasmussen Picks Off the Slack to Beat Houston, 5-1

After one inning Tuesday night, Padre pitcher Dennis Rasmussen had surrendered two doubles, a single and a walk.

And no runs.

Padre Manager Jack McKeon said he figured at that point, “This might be our kind of night.”

It was. Rasmussen settled down, and the Padres went on to beat the Houston Astros, 5-1, in front of 19,674 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The Padres now have won 11 in a row at home against the Astros.

Rasmussen is 6-1 since he came to the Padres from Cincinnati and has improved to 8-7 overall, but Houston had him reeling in the first.

Gerald Young opened with a double. A couple of pitches later, Rasmussen picked him off second.

Bill Doran struck out. Kevin Bass doubled down the left-field line, Glenn Davis walked and Buddy Bell singled to load the bases,

Rasmussen slithered out of the jam by striking out Billy Hatcher on a high fastball. No runs, three hits, no errors and three men left on base. No sweat.

Everyone agreed that the pickoff was the key to the inning.

“That definitely changed the game, because they would have had the lead,” Rasmussen said. “That ended up being real important. He’s a great base-stealer, and he thought he had it stolen. I just thought he might go, and I just wanted to keep him honest. When I turned, he was off, and it ended up being a big play.”

Astro Manager Hal Lanier could only shake his head and say: “We let them off the hook. It’s a completely different ballgame if you get a run there. We really let him off the ropes.”

Meanwhile, Houston starter Jim Deshaies was untouchable early, retiring the Padres in order through three innings. He struck out four and gave up just a single to Keith Moreland, who promptly was picked off first.

But in the fourth, Deshaies briefly lost his stuff, and the Padres flexed a little muscle.

With two outs and Dickie Thon on first, Carmelo Martinez hit his fifth home run of the season, a line shot over the wall in left, making it 2-0.

“We were all talking on the bench the first three innings, saying, ‘Who is this guy?’ ” Martinez said of Deshaies. “Two years ago, he had a really great fastball, then last year and this year it seemed like he lost it. But tonight, he had it.”

At least until the pitch to Martinez. From there, Deshaies struggled.

Moreland followed Martinez with a walk and chugged home from first on a triple to right by catcher Benito Santiago. Chris Brown ripped a single to left to score Santiago, and Roberto Alomar hit another single to put runners on first and third. Rasmussen then helped himself with a sharp single to right, bringing Brown home with the fifth run of the inning.

“I had bad command for one-third of an inning,” Deshaies said. “It was bad pitch after bad pitch for five batters in a row. The most frustrating thing is I had good enough stuff to shut them down.”

Aside from that outburst, the Padres were shut down. But the five runs were plenty for Rasmussen, who settled down after the rough first.

From the second through the seventh, Rasmussen retired 17 of the 21 men he faced, walking two and giving up two hits.

“Once you dodge a bullet, especially with no runs, you say, ‘Hey, the bad inning is over,’ ” Rasmussen said. “I got my stuff together and made the pitches I had to and got some good defensive plays.”

The defense was impressive.

In the second, Brown started a double play by fielding a hard-hit attempt at a sacrifice bunt by Deshaies. He fired to Alomar, who forced Craig Biggio at second and then relayed to first to end the inning.

Stanley Jefferson, who was recalled earlier in the day from triple-A Las Vegas, made a sparkling play in the third on a line shot to deep center by Kevin Bass. After a long run, Jefferson reached high to make the catch before crashing into the wall.

Alomar made another nice catch in the fourth. After Davis and Bell popped weakly to first, Rasmussen induced Hatcher into another popup down the right-field line. Alomar hustled into foul territory and made a sliding catch near the railing.

The Astros finally broke through in the eighth.

With one out, Doran drew a walk and, one out later, Davis also walked. Bell hit a shot down the left-field line to score Doran and advance Davis to third. But Rasmussen hung on, getting Hatcher to foul out to Santiago.

That was the first run Houston had scored against San Diego pitching in 31 innings, a Padres record against one team.

Lance McCullers pitched the ninth in relief, striking out one.

After the Padres recalled center fielder Jefferson from triple-A, as expected, outfielder Shane Mack was optioned to the Stars.

Jefferson started in center and led off Tuesday night against Houston. He went 0 for 3, and his major league batting average dropped to .098.

“There’s a lot of talent there,” Manager Jack McKeon said. “He was under a little pressure when he was here before. He went down, paid his dues and did well. I think it’s time to make a switch here.”

Jefferson, 25, started the season with San Diego but was demoted April 20 after hitting .105 in 38 at-bats. In 74 games with Las Vegas, he hit .317 with 60 runs scored, 31 runs batted in and 19 steals.

McKeon said Jefferson’s main job is to relax.

“There’s no pressure on him at all,” McKeon said. “I told the kid point blank I’m not worried about his batting average. I just want him to be an unselfish player, doing the little things like everyone else. I believe in the guy and definitely think he can contribute.

“I told him I want to see a smile on his face. I said I was tired of seeing his frown when he was here before.”

Jefferson said he felt he had to produce or else under former manager Larry Bowa.

“When I was here before, you had to hit,” he said. “If you didn’t hit, you didn’t play. I always knew I could hit. But when you press, you over-concentrate. It makes it hard to play.”

Mack, 24, hit .244 with 12 RBIs in 56 games and 119 at-bats with the Padres. He was promoted May 9 to replace injured Tony Gwynn.

Mack opened the season in Las Vegas with a 27-game hitting streak.

“I think he’s got to continue working on his hitting and play within himself,” McKeon said. “I think at times he doesn’t. I think at times he tries too hard.”

Padre Notes

Asked how it was in Las Vegas, Jefferson said: “Hot!” He said he lost 12 pounds because of the heat. . . . For the second consecutive game, second baseman Roberto Alomar hit in the eighth spot. He had batted second since being brought up from Las Vegas. “He did a lot of things I want the second hitter to do,” Manager Jack McKeon said. “I just wanted to change some things around a little and see what the ideal spot is for some of these guys. I’m just trying some things here. Maybe this is a more productive way. I don’t know. You juggle things around to find out.” . . . Including the 9-game set that began Tuesday night, San Diego has four more home stands.