Head Start Helps Expos Beat Rasmussen, Padres

Maybe the onset of Memorial Day and the unofficial start of summer will bring some sort of change in what has been a season of discontent in the pitching life of Dennis Rasmussen.

Judging from the past two years, something about springtime seems to disagree with Rasmussen. He simply can’t get started.

His early problems surfaced again Friday night in the Padres’ 5-0 loss to the Montreal Expos in front of 19,770 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

For the ninth time in 10 starts, Rasmussen failed to get out of the first inning unscathed. This time it was a two-run homer by first basemen Andres Galarraga that sent the Expos on their way and Rasmussen to his fifth loss in seven decisions.

The source of Rasmussen’s difficulties is not hard to pinpoint--he has allowed 16 runs in the first inning on 27 hits. But finding a reason is more troublesome.

“The same old story,” Rasmussen said. “(The first inning) was enough. The rest didn’t matter.”

Especially the way the Padres were hitting.

The Padres managed only six singles off Montreal starter Bryn Smith (5-1), who pitched his second complete game and lowered his ERA to 1.87. The shutout was the third in a row for the Expos and increased their streak of scoreless innings to 28.

The shutout was Smith’s first since 1985.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” Smith said. “I’m just riding this wave.”

And so far, for Padre opponents, surf’s up. The shutout was the seventh thrown against them and their sixth at home in 49 games. That compares with 11 shutouts, four at home, for all of last season.

“The way we’re hitting, in the first inning we could have stopped it,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said. “We could have called it--the two-run rule.”

The game started in familiar fashion for Rasmussen. Tim Raines opened with a double to left center on the fourth pitch, and Galarraga followed one batter later with his seventh homer, but his first since May 4 to break a one-for-20 slump.

Only once--against Chicago in a no-decision, 5-4 Padre loss May 3--has Rasmussen failed to give up a first-inning run.

His early problems seem to mirror last season, when was 2-6 with 5.75 ERA for Cincinnati before a June 8 trade to the Padres. He then went 14-4 with a 2.55 ERA.

Rasmussen keeps waiting for his fortunes to turn around again.

“Every time I go out there, I feel I can get it done,” Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen did manage to hold the Expos scoreless over the next three innings, but except for a one-two-three second, it was far from effortless.

Montreal left runners on second and third in the third, and Rasmussen was helped in the fourth when catcher Benito Santiago threw out Tim Wallach, who had led off with a single, attempting to steal second.

Rasmussen’s luck ran out in the fifth when Montreal added its third run on an error, sacrifice bunt and ground single to right that second baseman Roberto Alomar almost stopped.

Shortstop Spike Owen opened the inning with a grounder that went between the legs of shortstop Garry Templeton. Smith bunted Owen to second, and Owen scored an unearned run two batters later on center fielder Otis Nixon’s single.

Rasmussen avoided further trouble when Templeton helped make up for his error with a diving stop of Galarraga’s ground ball up the middle, rolling across second base to force Nixon.

The Expos went ahead, 4-0, an inning later when right fielder Hubie Brooks opened with a double to right center, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on second basemen Damaso Garcia’s sacrifice fly to center.

Rasmussen left the game after that for pinch hitter Tim Flannery. Mark Grant came on for two scoreless relief innings before he yielded for pinch hitter Rob Nelson and was replaced by Greg Booker.

It was the first appearance since May 4 for Booker, a span of 19 games over 22 days, and the inactivity showed. He walked two batters, threw a wild pitch and gave up a run-scoring double to Raines that made the final 5-0.

The Padres, meanwhile, could manage only six singles against Smith and did not get a runner past first until the seventh, three times grounding into double plays.

Their futility helped extend an Expo pitching streak of 26 shutout innings that began three games earlier in San Francisco.

Not until seventh did the Padres have a threat, and then they squandered it.

Jack Clark led off with an infield single, moved to second on a wild pitch and reached third on John Kruk’s single. Another wild pitch, which catcher Mike Fitzgerald blocked in front of the plate, allowed Kruk to take second but kept Clark at third.

But second and third with no outs quickly turned into nothing more than two more stranded runners as Santiago struck out, Luis Salazar grounded to third and Templeton grounded to short.

Santiago’s strikeout was the Padres’ first of the game, which normally would not be worth noting if not for the fact that they came in with a major-league leading 304 strikeouts and were coming off a 26-strikeout, three-game series against the New York Mets.

The Padres closed the game by meekly, going down in order in the eighth and ninth, and were finished when Kruk was called out on strikes.

Padre Notes

The Padres likely will have the honor Sunday at 1:05 p.m. of becoming the first National League team to face pitcher Mark Langston, acquired by Montreal Thursday in a trade with Seattle. The Padres are scheduled to start Eric Show (6-4).

Langston, a left-hander who led the American League in strikeouts three times since 1984, arrived at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium about 35 minutes before Friday’s game and held a news conference.

Langston, who could become a free agent at the end of the season, said he was upset with Seattle’s handling of the trade and the contract talks that led to it. He said he received a call from Chuck Armstrong, Mariners president, in the clubhouse when the Mariners were playing Boston Thursday in Fenway Park. Langston said Armstrong wanted to talk contract and offered him a $7.1 million, three-year deal. “I told him I don’t negotiate,” Langston said. “That’s what I have an agent for.”