Padres Fall to Houston in 10 Innings, 8-7

Those crazy goings on at the Astrodome got a little weirder Tuesday night.

Two games after Houston played the longest night game in major league history, the Astros and Padres played what certainly must be considered among the weirdest games in history.

The Astros defeated the Padres, 8-7, in 10 innings in a game that featured a ninth-inning Astro rally that none in what was left of a crowd of 12,666 likely will ever forget.

The Astros won the game when right fielder Bip Roberts bobbled Glenn Davis’ single, allowing Bill Doran to score from first with the winning run in the 10th.

But it was the bottom of the ninth that qualified for a special place in baseball’s believe it or not.

That the Padres lost a game in which they had a 7-4 lead with two out and none on in the ninth is unusual enough, but it was how the Astros tied the score that made it freakish.

The tying run scored when--with the bases loaded, two out and the Padres leading, 7-6, in the ninth--catcher Benito Santiago lost track of a third strike to catcher Alex Trevino.

Trevino swung at the pitch in the dirt from reliever Mark Davis. The ball popped out Santiago’s glove and landed about six feet to his left.

By the time Santiago picked up the ball, Houston’s Ken Caminiti was charging down on him from third. Santiago tried to tag Caminiti, but the ball was knocked loose in the collision, allowing Caminiti to score the tying run.

But all Santiago had needed to do to end the game was tag home for the force. He never did.

“In all defense (of Santiago), he got the ball and instinct is to tag the first person you can,” Padre Manager McKeon said.

Davis said he yelled at Santiago to tag the plate but that he could not be heard over the crowd noise.

Davis blamed himself for putting the Padres in the jam by walking the first two batters he faced with the bases loaded.

“I didn’t do my job,” Davis said. “If I had come in and thrown strikes, that would have been it.”

The Houston rally wiped out a 7-4 lead that the Padres built with three runs in the sixth off relief pitcher Danny Darwin.

Carmelo Martinez had an RBI single and third baseman Chris James a two-run double in the inning.

The hit was James’ third of the game. He also singled and scored a run in the second and had an RBI single in the third of starter Jim Deshaies.

It was the first three-hit game since April 23 for James, who broke out of a zero-for-38 streak with an RBI single in his third at-bat of Monday’s 10-2 victory.

For all the scoring, there could have been much more. The score was tied at 4-4 after five innings on Terry Puhl’s two-out, two-run single, but it just as could have been 10-10.

The Padres and Astros combined to leave 16 runners on base in the first five innings, 11 of those in scoring position. Nine of the total were Padres, six in scoring position. There were 18 hits, six walks, two errors and a wild pitch in that stretch.

The teams finished with a combined 24 left on base.

Neither starting pitcher lasted long.

Deshaies, who lost his fourth consecutive decision against the Padres, allowed four runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out six.

The outcome was quite different from his last outing, when Deshaies came within four outs of a no-hitter in a 7-2 victory against the Dodgers Thursday.

Rasmussen gave up eight hits and four runs (three earned), walked three and struck out one before he was lifted for Greg Harris after walking pinch-hitter Eric Yelding to start the sixth.

Harris retired the first 11 batters he faced before his trouble started with a two-out single by Doran. After walks to Davis and Caminiti loaded the bases, Harris was replaced by Davis.

Davis, who until then had not blown a save opportunity in 17 previous tries, allowed the Astros to tie the score with three runs in the ninth.

He walked Rafael Ramirez and pinch-hitter Craig Baggio on nine pitches to score the first two runs.

Then the crazy twist.

Davis, on an 0-2 count, got Trevino to swing at a ball in the dirt for a strikeout. But Santiago lost it momentarily, and the wild finish was on.

“Very weird,” said Padre third baseman Luis Salazar. “Never in baseball have I seen that.”

At least the game started routinely.

Rasmussen yielded a first-inning run for the 11th time in his 12 starts. This time it was an unearned run that allowed the Astros to take a 1-0 lead.

At first, it appeared as if this would be one game in which Rasmussen would get out of the first without being touched for a run. And if it had not been for Gary Green’s error at shortstop that led to an unearned run, he just might have done it.

But on an easy ground ball by the second batter, center fielder Gerald Young, Green threw a one-hopper into the dirt that first baseman Jack Clark could not scoop in time.

Rasmussen then got Doran to fly to left for what should have been the third out. Instead, that brought up Davis, who hit a ball deep to third that James stopped, dropped, picked up and threw strongly to first, but not in time.

Caminiti followed with a single to left that scored Young, who beat the throw from Martinez. Ramirez ended the inning with a fly to center. The inning extended the first-inning damage against Rasmussen to 18 runs and 30 hits in 12 games.

The Padres responded by giving Rasmussen a 2-1 lead in the second on Roberts’ two-run triple.

James and Green led off the second with singles off Deshaies.

Rasmussen’s sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third before Roberts brought them home with his triple into the gap in left-center field. The triple was his fifth, tying him with Montreal’s Tim Rains and Tony Gwynn for the National League lead.

But the Padres blew a chance for more runs when Roberto Alomar and Gwynn were called out on strikes to end the inning. That was the second of three times the Padres stranded a runner at third with one out.

In the first, they loaded the bases against with one out on a walk to Alomar, a single by Gwynn and a walk to Jack Clark, only to waste the opportunity when Martinez and Santiagp struck out to end the inning.

The Padres left another one-out runner at third in the third inning, but at least this time they did score a run.

Clark led off with a walk, his second of four in the game as he tied a game club record and raised his major league-leading total to 54. Martinez struck out before consecutive singles to left by Santiago and James.

Clark appeared a sure out at the plate when he tried to score on James’ hit as Billy Hatcher’s throw from left beat him by five feet. But Trevino let the ball get through his glove, allowing Clark to score. Santiago went to third on the throw, but that his where he stayed.

Deshaies avoided further trouble when he got Green to pop out and struck out Rasmussen.

The Astros kept it close at 3-2, scoring in the third on a one-out sacrifice fly by Caminiti after singles by Young and Doran.

The Padres added another run in the fourth to go ahead, 4-2, as they chased Deshaies. But again, it was case of what could have been--another potential big inning they let get away. Three hits and a walk yielded one run.

It was the fourth consecutive inning the Padres left two runners on base, a total of five of which were in scoring position.

Martinez drove in the only run with a two-out single to center that meant the end for Deshaies. He was replaced by Darwin.

The Astros tied the game in fifth at 4-4 on Puhl’s two-run single.