Rookie Starter Has the Padres’ Number : Cook Leads Way in 4-2 Giant Win

It happens every fall. A minor league pitcher on a winning streak gets a phone call. A major league team gets a wide-eyed starting pitcher.

A weary opponent gets sucker-punched.

Such was the scene at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium Monday night, where the kid was Dennis Cook, his team was the San Francisco Giants, and those dizzy guys climbing off the floor were the Padres.

Making his first major league start, Cook shut out the Padres for 5 innings and then let four relievers take care of the rest in a 4-2 victory.

“This is something that always worries you about this time of the year,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said. “You find young kids who you don’t know anything about, and they come in and get you out.

“I remember Jeff Russell coming in here with Cincinnati one year and throwing a one-hitter, and then the next time we faced him we really got him. Unfortunately, we’re not going to face this kid again.”

Cook just smiled. “They can’t take the win away from me, and that’s all that matters,” he said.

Just last week, Cook, 25, was sitting in an Austin, Tex., restaurant with a buddy eating a bowl of chicken and rice. His season, at triple-A Phoenix, was finished.

“Yeah, I was, uh, surprised,” he said.

Because of a couple of slow recovering Giant pitchers--Mike LaCoss (elbow) and Kelly Downs (shoulder)--he was suddenly a Giant. And Monday he was giant.

In front of 23,514, he didn’t allow a hit until the game was an hour old--a Carmelo Martinez fourth-inning single. He yielded a single to Chris Brown in the fifth, but that was it until he walked Roberto Alomar and Martinez in the sixth and was gone.

That seemed to be the Giants’ only mistake.

Three innings and two relievers later, the Padres mounted a ninth-inning charge that nearly eliminated Cook from anybody’s story altogether.

Against rookie reliever Roger Samuels, Martinez led off the ninth with his 14th homer. Five pitches later, Keith Moreland hit his fifth homer, only the third time the Padres have hit back-to-back homers this year.

Moreland, you’ll remember, hit his first homer in 281 at-bats against the Giants in San Francisco last week. After that one, he turned a much-criticized cartwheel. Moreland greeted this homer, which came just 27 at-bats after the last one, with a hard, head-down run.

This time, the ensuing Padre hitters provided the gymnastics. Against reliever Scott Garrelts, Benito Santiago singled to right. Randy Ready’s deep foul to left was caught by a sliding Mike Aldrete in perhaps the fielding play of the night, but pinch-hitter John Kruk walked to put the tying run on base.

Out ran Garrelts, in came Joe Price, and up stepped Marvell Wynne, Sunday’s grand slam hero. This time his fly ball didn’t make it past center fielder Brett Butler for the second out. Pinch-hitter Garry Templeton then ended the rally by grounding out to second baseman Robby Thompson, who dropped the ball but still threw Templeton out.

“We started a little bit late, I guess,” McKeon said, shaking his head.

That was because of Cook, an 18th-round draft pick who, after four full minor league seasons, became the first Giant to win a big league debut since Jeff Robinson did it on April 7, 1984.

Cook was previously best known for his pitching in 1985, when he helped University of Texas into the College World Series with current major league pitchers Greg Swindell (Cleveland) and Bruce Ruffin (Philadelphia).

Cook was only 11-9 in Phoenix this year and had not won a game since July 22, largely because on July 27, he cracked a rib while warming up . Talk about your hard throwers.

Monday, he was a pain in the side of the Padres.

“I just went out there and threw, I didn’t think of much else,” he said. “We went over some of their hitters and all, but I mostly just thought, ‘If they are going to hit it, they will hit it.’ ”

Which was precisely McKeon’s point.

“We would rather face a guy we see on an everyday basis, even a (Dwight) Gooden or one of those guys, with whom we know what to expect,” McKeon said. “These guys always give us trouble.”

When Cook left with runners on first and second in the sixth, it still wasn’t a Giants’ problem. In raced former Padre reliever Lefferts (yes, he still runs to the mound from the bullpen) and both Moreland (fly out) and Santiago (strikeout) were dismissed.

The final score could have been much worse. Padre starter Andy Hawkins entered with four wins in his last four starts (with a 1.91 earned-run average during that span), but this time he was more lucky than good.

In the second, Candy Maldonado, hitting .175 career off Hawkins, took him deep for his 10th homer. Aldrete and Ernest Riles followed the homer with singles, and were standing on first and third when Kirt Manwaring lined a ball up the middle. Hawkins threw his glove up, snagged the ball and turned it into a double play at first base.

Runners reached the corners again in the next inning, on a triple by Butler and a walk to Thompson. This time it was Will Clark who hit the liner, to second baseman Alomar, who scraped it off his shoe and also turned a double play at first.

The Giants finally cinched it with two unearned runs in the seventh when Dickie Thon dropped Manwaring’s grounder and then Moreland dropped his throw to first, setting up a bases-loaded situation that allowed Butler (single) and Thompson (sacrifice fly) a couple of RBIs. Padre Notes

The final goal for the greatly improved Padre pitching staff? How about getting three 15-game winners? It would be a feat likely topped in the National League only by the New York Mets, who boast Dwight Gooden (17 victories), David Cone (15) and Ron Darling (14). The Padres have Andy Hawkins (14), Dennis Rasmussen (14) and Eric Show (13), each with at least three starts remaining. A great finish by Ed Whitson (12 victories) could give them four 15-game winners. In 1984, when the Padres won a club-record 92 games en route to the National League pennant, they only had one 15-game winner--Show, who was 15-9. They had four other pitchers in double figures that year--Mark Thurmond (14), Ed Whitson (14), Tim Lollar (11) and Goose Gossage (10). Padre pitching coach Pat Dobson was a member of the last team to have four 20-game winners--the 1971 Orioles--when he went 20-8 to join Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally in the 20-win club. Dobson said that four 15-game winners would be an impressive statistic because he doesn’t think any staff will have four 20-game winners again. “No way, it won’t happen, not with the game the way it is today,” Dobson said. “Everybody has five-man rotations and everybody is using younger pitchers. Back when we did it, we just had four guys, all in their late 20s, and all of us could bounce back fast. Young guys today, nobody wants them wearing out their arms.”

One Padre game in these final weeks likely will not be manned by a regular starter--one of the September 21 twi-night doubleheader games in Los Angeles. Unless one of the regular starters is ready, look for reliever Greg Booker to get the start. Booker last started a big league game in 1984, but actually broke in with 38 starts in his first two minor league seasons. “I think he might be better pitching on a regular basis,” Dobson said of Booker, who has appeared in 30 of the club’s 142 games. “He would have an easier time with his mechanics. He’s one of those guys who could get out of a game throwing just 80-85 pitches. He throws a lot of ground balls and doesn’t walk a lot of guys (12 in 49 innings).” . . . Dennis Rasmussen, who was removed from Sunday’s 8-2 victory for precautionary reasons after being hit in the right forearm by a batted ball from Chuck Cary, took batting practice on schedule Monday and felt good. “He’ll keep his normal schedule, everything is fine,” Dobson said.