Reds Finish Three-Game Sweep by Brushing Off the Padres, 5-3

The Padres pulled into Cincinnati three days ago for the start of a 10-game swing through the heart of the National League West.

They were riding a three-game winning streak, one of the best road records in the majors and talking like the best of times were just ahead.

They left Sunday afternoon with a whole new perspective.

That is what a three-game sweep by the Reds can do, especially one accomplished in such a dominating way.

The Reds finished off their weekend cleaning with a 5-3 victory in front of 29,005 at Riverfront Stadium.

The victory was the Reds’ fourth in a row and, combined with San Francisco’s loss in Atlanta, moved them into first place, percentage points ahead of the Giants.

The Padres, who started the series 1 1/2 games behind the leading Giants, are 3 1/2 games back of the Reds and Giants after losing to Cincinnati for the fifth time in six games.

“We had to mosey into town at an inopportune time,” said Tony Gwynn, who had his second consecutive three-hit game. “We didn’t play that bad, it is just that they had the big innings each game of the series. That kind of got us down a few runs and made it tough for us to come back.”

This time the Reds used a four-run sixth inning off starter Bruce Hurst to sink the Padres. Some of the damage was the Padres’ own doing.

Two of the Cincinnati runs scored on first baseman Jack Clark’s wild throw to the plate on abases-loaded grounder with one out in the fifth. The throw sailed over the head of Mark Parent, the Padres’ 6-foot 5-inch catcher, and hit off the wall near the Padre dugout.

“I just hurried it,” Clark said. “I was rushing, trying to get two outs, when I should have been worried about one.”

Around Clark’s error, the Reds sandwiched an RBI double by Paul O’Neill and a run-scoring single by starting pitcher Danny Jackson. That was more than enough to wipe out what was left of a Padre 2-0 lead.

“We just gave them a win, that’s all,” Padre Manager Jack McKeon said. “You can’t give that club an opening; you give them an opening and they are tough. They are tough hitters in the clutch.”

The Padres caught the Reds at a time when Eric Davis was revving up after returning from a hamstring injury that put him on the 15-day disabled list until May 19 and Barry Larkin was in the midst of stretching his hitting streak to 15 games.

Davis, who started the Reds’ fifth-inning rally with a one-out single, was six for 11 in the series with two home runs and nine RBIs.

Larkin also went went six for 11 in the three games and scored five runs. His hitting streak, in which he has batted 26 for 56 to raise his average to .346, ties him with Milt Thompson of St. Louis for the longest in the National League.

“They are a good team, and they are swinging the bat real well now,” Hurst said. “We caught them at time when they probably are at one of their best streaks in the season. It would have taken a much better game from me to beat them.”

The Padres, who have not been generous in their support of Hurst, scoring 34 runs in his previous 11 starts, did provide a 2-0 lead in the fourth.

The first run scored on a groundout to shortstop by Carmelo Martinez that brought home Gwynn, who had singled to lead off the inning. A throwing error by Larkin on a grounder by the next batter, Parent, allowed Clark to score.

Clark, who added a single in fifth, had reached base on a single. That extended his hitting streak to nine games, matching Gwynn for the team season high and raising his batting to .232, his highest of the season.

But the lead quickly slipped away.

Second baseman Luis Quinones’ home run in the fifth cut the advantage to 2-1 before the Reds took the lead for good with four runs in the sixth, only one of which was earned. Hurst (5-4) left the game in the next inning for a pinch-hitter, having allowed five runs (two earned) and eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Jackson, meanwhile, pitched admirably for the Reds. Making his first start since receiving a cortisone injection after an examination Tuesday showed a calcium deposit in his big left toe, he struck out seven before leaving with one out in the seventh after the Padres scored their final run on Gwynn’s RBI single.

That made way for the Reds’ bullpen duo of Rob Dibble and John Franco.

Dibble struck out four of the five hitters he faced, including Martinez, Parent and Garry Templeton on the minimum nine pitches in the eighth. That gave Dibble 23 strikeouts in his past 12 1/3 innings.

Franco came on in the ninth, retiring the Padres in order to pick up his 16th save in 17 opportunities.

The only Padre of the five Dibble faced to avoid striking out was newly acquired Chris James, who flied out to end the seventh.

The game was James’ Padre debut. It was not a night to remember.

James, acquired from Philadelphia Friday night, went zero for four to extend his hitless streak to 36 at-bats over 11 games. Included in the performance was an inning-ending called third strike with runners on second and third in the fifth and his fly out to right-center with two on against Dibble.

In all, James left a total of six runners on base, four in scoring position, before he was replaced by Bip Roberts in the bottom of the seventh.

James’ last hit was an RBI single in a May 23 game in Los Angeles. That, by the way, was the last victory for the Phillies, who lost to Montreal Sunday to extend their streak to 11 games.

James, who was acquired in exchange for John Kruk and Randy Ready, opened in right field. It was his first start in right this season after playing 37 games in left for the Phillies and seven at third base.

“I know I’m going to break out of this some time,” James said. “I hope it is soon.”