Surprise: A Big Inning Gives Padres, Whitson Victory Over Cardinals

A double started it. A single added to it. And by the time Jack Clark sent a pitch screaming into the left-center field seats, some 400 feet from home plate, they were on their way.

The Padres and the big inning are still trying to feel comfortable in the same sentence this season.

Temporarily, at least, the slumbering Padre offense came alive Tuesday night, scoring five runs on six hits in the third inning. It was enough to swat away the pesky St. Louis Cardinals, 7-1, and stop their six-game winning streak before 16,997 paying customers.

And swat they did. The five-run outburst matched the Padres’ high in an inning this season; they also scored five in the eighth on April 27 to put away an 8-1 victory at Pittsburgh. The six hits in the third also matched their total for the game in Monday’s series-opening loss to the Cardinals.

“That’s almost a month’s worth of work for our pitchers,” Clark said. “When you get some runs, it makes it easier for the pitchers. Our pitchers haven’t seen that many runs in a while.”

Starter Ed Whitson (4-2) was the recipient of the offensive outburst on a night he probably could have even made do with less. He sailed along, scattering six hits and walking none en route to his first complete game of the season.

Roberto Alomar, Luis Salazar, Tony Gwynn and even John Kruk had two hits each. Kruk hit a two-run home run in the seventh to increase the Padres’ lead to from 5-1 to 7-1.

Kruk improved his average 27 points, to .164, by going two for four. The home run was his second of the season--his first came Saturday in Chicago. Both have been to the opposite field.

“Oh, man, all those runs make it 10 times easier,” Whitson said. “But I’m really tickled for Kruk. He’s starting to come around. If we get him hot, we could do some damage. That’s what Jack (Clark) needs, someone hitting behind him.”

The only starters who didn’t get a hit were Carmelo Martinez, who grounded into two double plays, and shortstop Garry Templeton.

And one of the few negatives for the Padres came hidden among the positives in the third inning. Templeton strained his right shoulder in the midst of a headfirst slide into home and was forced to leave the game in the fifth. His status is day-to-day.

“I had planned to rest him Thursday anyway, so if he’s sore tomorrow I might just go ahead and rest him then,” McKeon said.

Templeton showed a great deal of hustle on the play, but there was no play at the plate. He could have just as easily scored standing up.

One other noteworthy item is the fact that the Padres were flawless in the field. They came into the game sharing the National League lead in errors with the Chicago Cubs at 33.

Salazar, starting at third for the first time since April 11, fielded two ground balls and a pop-up in the first inning to get the Padre defense started. He also made a nice play to start a double play in the fourth.

“We’ve made about three errors a game for the last five or six games,” Salazar said. “Those things happen sometimes, but we know we have a better defense than that.”

The Padres felt so good with a 5-1 lead that they even tried a double steal in the sixth, which worked to perfection. Alomar stole third and Gwynn moved to second. Neither scored, though, as Martinez grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Whitson, meanwhile, was superb. His only mistake was a full-count fastball to Pedro Guerrero, the lead-off hitter in the second. Guerrero buried it in the left field stands to make it 1-0.

It wasn’t much of a surprise. Guerrero has had a great deal of success against Whitson, entering the game with a .378 batting average and four career home runs against him. He went two for three Tuesday, but the damage was minimal. On this night, the Padres wouldn’t be hurt by one run.

The third-inning outburst saw to that. The old baseball axiom is that hitting is contagious, and the third was when the Padres caught the fever against Scott Terry, whose pitches during the inning continually landed on the outfield grass--except for the two-and-two pitch to Clark, which wound up in the seats.

Salazar started the inning with a double to right. Gwynn followed with a single to left, bringing Clark to the plate. Seconds later, Clark was circling the bases to a standing ovation and a 3-1 lead.

It was Clark’s first home run against the Cardinals since playing in St. Louis from 1985-1987.

“Yeah, it feels good, but there are no hard feelings,” Clark said. “I’ve got a lot of friends over there. It’s just nice to feel like you’re doing something out there.”

Terry wasn’t happy with his pitch to Clark.

“The pitch was right down the middle of the plate,” Terry said. “I wanted to go in and down. You can’t make a mistake on Jack inside.”

Shook up, Terry walked the next batter, Martinez. Benito Santiago singled Martinez to second, but Kruk grounded into a double play..

With two out and Martinez on third, St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog called for an intentional walk to Templeton to bring Whitson to the plate. It turned into one of those ideas that seemed good at the time. Whitson singled to right, scoring Templeton.

Two batters later, Salazar finished the inning he started by grounding to third, forcing Alomar at second.

“Every time I made a good pitch, they seemed to fight it off,” Terry said. “When I made a bad pitch, they didn’t miss it.”

Terry (3-2) sent a message that he wasn’t his usual self in the first. He entered the game ranked tied for fourth in the National League with a 1.80 earned run average and had walked just four batters in 35 innings. So when he walked both Clark and Martinez in the first, the Padres began taking note.

Terry lasted just two batters into the fourth, allowing five runs, nine hits and five walks.

“I couldn’t get the curve ball over and I couldn’t get the fastball where I wanted to,” Terry said. “The whole three innings was a struggle. I’m a control pitcher. When I go out and walk five in three innings, it’s pretty obvious I’m not throwing like I can.”

Padre Notes

What does batting coach Amos Otis do when one of the Padres is in a slump? “Anything you can come up with other than what you are already doing,” he said during batting practice before Tuesday’s game. He did some extra work with Carmelo Martinez (.179 entering Tuesday’s game) before batting practice in attempt to coax Martinez out of his season-long slump. Otis’ program for Martinez Tuesday: 10 swings in which Martinez attempts to hit the ball up the middle, followed by 10 swings in a spread stance using only the hands and hips, followed by 10 more swings attempting to hit the ball where it’s pitched. “The focal point is the pitcher’s head during the first round,” Otis said. “You try to hit the ball back where it came from. The spread stance speeds up your hands. By the time the third round comes, when you hit the ball where it’s pitched, your stride should be slowed down and your hands should be quicker. And all three steps make you see the ball longer.”...

Mark Davis was selected the National League Pitcher of the Month for April by a vote of league media. He was a perfect 11 for 11 in save opportunities. Not surprisingly, he was also picked as the Padres’ Pitcher of the Month. Tony Gwynn was selected the Padres’ Player of the Month.