Rasmussen Helps Breathe Comeback Into the Padres, 4-3

To other new skills learned and practiced by the Padres lately, add heart-to-heart resuscitation.

Ten minutes into Friday night’s pennant-race kind of game against the Houston Astros, the Padres trail, 3-0.

One inning gone, and Padre third baseman Chris Brown has been humiliated. Padre pitcher Dennis Rasmussen has been humbled. The 25,473 Astrodome fans are hooting, and Astro pitcher Bob Knepper--winner of 7 of 8 decisions here--is some kind of happy.

One inning gone and . . . it stops. The Padres, often rather good at rolling over in these situations, roll the other way. Roll in such a way that the next time they look down, beneath them is you-know-who.

Led by comebacks from Rasmussen and Brown, and by the silly notion that even players on a losing team can walk through somebody else’s pennant race without hiding their eyes, the Padres fought back to a 4-3 victory.

In doing so, they pushed the Astros 2 1/2 games behind the Dodgers and pushed out their own chests.

“We used to come in here and play dead,” said Manager Jack McKeon. “Now we really don’t think about getting beat.”

Mostly, it seems, they just don’t think. With common sense dictating otherwise, here’s what happened after that first inning.

--After allowing four hits and leaving Astro runners on first and second in the first, Rasmussen did not allow another hit until the eighth. The only other hit he allowed was with one out in the ninth, when he was removed for reliever Mark Davis, who retired the final two Astros with Rafael Ramirez standing on second.

For the eye-popping Rasmussen, it was his 9th victory in 10 decisions as a Padre. For Davis, his 20th save.

--After committing an error and two more poor fielding plays in that first inning, essentially giving the Astros those runs all by himself, Brown came back with a single and the Padres’ second run in the third, and then a game-tying double in the sixth.

Let’s see, are we missing anybody? Oh yes, Tony Gwynn must be in there somewhere. All he did was go 3 for 5 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, scoring the tying run after a sixth-inning single and knocking in the winning run with a seventh-inning double.

If Atlanta’s Gerald Perry (3 for 4 Friday against Cincinnati) had had just an average night, Gwynn would be the National League batting leader. As it stands, he is hitting .315, 4 points behind Perry.

“What can you say about Tony Gwynn?” asked McKeon, who seemed to have run out of words about his best player.

Pausing, searching, McKeon finally said, “Every time we are in the clutch, there he is.”

If speech problems are an indication, this may have been the best of McKeon’s 38 victories in the 69 games he has managed. After being told that his club is now 19-19 on the road under him after being 3-15 under Larry Bowa, he said this:

“What we have done on the road is an indication of what we have been doing on the road.”

The game was much less confusing.

In moving to within seven games of .500 (54-61) for the third time under McKeon--they haven’t been as close as six games under .500 since May 4--the Padres stuck to their recent givens:

“Rasmussen was great, and we all knew we could come back,” Gwynn said. “Same old thing.”

Gwynn’s seventh-inning double followed something new, a key contribution by struggling center fielder Stanley Jefferson. Hitting .160 at the time, Jefferson hit a one-out grounder to first baseman Glenn Davis that required just a simple toss to Knepper covering the bag.

But Jefferson’s speed confused things. He raced past a stunned Knepper and beat the throw by inches. Gwynn then knocked a ball into right field, and it was as if Jefferson had never stopped. He was around second before Kevin Bass cut the ball off and kept going around third, scoring the winning run just ahead of a perfect relay throw by second baseman Bill Doran.

“Jefferson put on a clinic; we saw him at his best,” Gwynn said. “For him to score on that, he had to be flying.”

“I guess it was pretty swift,” Jefferson admitted, chuckling after a game for almost the first time since arriving from triple-A Las Vegas July 26. “I just hustled. When you’re not swinging the bat, you’ve got to do the little things. I’ve got to bite and scratch and kick and do anything.”

The mini-rally capped a comeback fueled by Roberto Alomar’s RBI double and Dickie Thon’s RBI fly in the second, and then Brown’s RBI double in the sixth.

“Nobody in the park was more relieved than me when I helped us tie it,” said Brown, who allowed a run with a first-inning throwing error and a couple of more runs by failing to field what became a Doran single and failing to throw out Billy Hatcher on an easy bunt in front of him.

“I felt terrible in that first inning, I just wanted a chance to get that monkey off my back.”

Rasmussen, who retired 10 in a row at one point in eventually lowering his Padre ERA to 2.92, kept it off.

With the Padres holding that 4-3 lead after Gwynn’s double, Rasmussen faced his biggest trouble in the eighth, when Gerald Young led off with a single and was bunted to second by Doran. One out later, up came the Astros’ biggest power threat, Glenn Davis.

Handing Davis an itinerary of sloppy curves, Rasmussen worked the count full, then watched Davis foul off two more pitches before retiring him on a weak foul pop caught by Thon.

“I wasn’t going to give in to him . . . I finally outguessed him,” said Rasmussen, certifiably the staff ace with an 11-7 overall record.

Frustrated Astro Manager Hal Lanier, like most others whose teams have been stunted by Rasmussen, wasn’t quite as complimentary.

“Rasmussen is still throwing the same old stuff,” Lanier said. “Just now, a few more fastballs about 78 m.p.h.”

Padre Notes

Tony Gwynn and Roberto Alomar extended their hitting streaks to 10 games Friday. Alomar had an RBI double in the second inning, and he added a double in the eighth to improve his average to .244, just 12 points higher than when the streak began. He extended it to eight Wednesday night in Atlanta only because the game went 16 innings. He had his only hit of the night in the final inning. . . . In picking up his 20th save by stranding Rafael Ramirez on second in the ninth Friday, Mark Davis added to another impressive statistic--of 39 baserunners he has inherited, just 12 have scored. . . . Benito Santiago had just one hit Friday, but he hit the ball hard and in the air in three of his four at-bats. He had two homers Tuesday in Atlanta, and in his last four games, he has hit the ball hard and in the air in 15 of 19 at-bats. Of the other four at-bats, two were strikeouts, one was a failed sacrifice bunt, and only one was a grounder. “I’m coming back. I feel I’m coming back,’ said Santiago, who began his 34-game hitting streak last Aug. 25. “I’m right there.” . . . Before Friday’s game, Tim Flannery walked up to the newest Astro, Casey Candaele, the all-purpose infielder acquired from Montreal on July 23 for catcher Mark Bailey. Flannery pointed at Candaele, a native of the central California coast town of Lompoc, and shouted, “This is my favorite player! I draft a team, this is my first pick! I ask you, who else in baseball plays all nine positions--and surfs!” Playing six positions last season, including pitcher, Candaele hit .272 and finished fourth in the rookie of the year balloting. But he had slumped to .172 with the Expos this season before the trade.

PADRES AT A GLANCEFIRST INNING

Astros--With one out, Doran singled to center. Hatcher bunted safely, Doran stopping at second. Davis grounded to first, Doran taking third, Hatcher taking second. Bass doubled to left, Doran and Hatcher scoring. Ramirez singled, Bass scoring on third baseman Brown’s throwing error. Caminiti walked. Trevino grounded to shortstop. Three runs, four hits, two left.

SECOND INNING

Padres--Martinez walked. Brown singled to left, Martinez stopping at second. Alomar doubled to left, Martinez scoring, Brown taking third. Rasmussen struck out. Thon flied to right, Brown scoring. Jefferson grounded to third. Two runs, two hits, one left.

SIXTH INNING

Padres--Gwynn singled to right. Moreland lined to right. Santiago singled to left, Gwynn stopping at second. Martinez lined to right. Brown doubled to left, Gwynn scoring, Santiago taking third. Alomar was intentionally walked. Rasmussen struck out. One run, three hits, three left.

SEVENTH INNING

Padres--With one out, Jefferson singled. Gwynn doubled to right, Jefferson scoring, Gwynn taking third on the throw. Darwin replaced Knepper. Moreland lined to third. Santiago struck out. One run, two hits, one left.