This Time, Padres Find a Way to Win

Padres needed a victory, and they needed it now.

Their confidence was shot after having blown two leads in two nights against the first-place San Francisco Giants. Their ears were ringing, thanks to Manager Jack McKeon’s postgame tirade Saturday night. And their eyes were bulging after Kevin Mitchell’s mammoth fourth-inning home run into the second deck in left Sunday at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

It was time for a gamble. So in the third inning, with the Padres trailing by two and two runners on, backup catcher Mark Parent stood at the plate with a three-ball count and a green light.

All it took was one swing to put the ball over the fence, give the Padres the lead and swat away some of the sting that has been building during their 6-6 home stand.

Parent’s homer, along with a four-for-five day from Tony Gwynn, 4 1/3 innings of good relief work from Mark Grant (2-1) and Mark Davis’ 19th save added up to a 10-7 victory in front of 34,560.

Sure, the final score was bloated, but what’s a little extra fat when you’re starving? The Padres were 11 games behind the Giants, who had a seven-game winning streak.

The Padres scored three in the first on Tony Gwynn’s fourth home run of the season, but threatened to blow their third game in a row to the Giants when starter Eric Show--whom McKeon said had a sore back--was shelled for four runs in the third. He left after the third, having allowed five runs and seven hits.

During that third inning, the Giants nearly hit for the cycle. Ken Oberkfell homered, Will Clark and Kirt Manwaring doubled and Pat Sheridan tripled.

But the hit that seemed to freeze the entire stadium for a few seconds was Mitchell’s. The ball landed in the seventh row of the second-deck stands in left field, only the seventh ball to be hit that far in stadium history.

Clark was on second, and he just stood there watching. Padre left fielder Carmelo Martinez didn’t take a step, either.

“I was hoping it would go foul,” Parent said. “Then I was hoping it would stay in the stadium.”

Said Mitchell: “Distance doesn’t matter to me. It’s still over the fence.”

What irritated Parent was Clark’s reaction.

“I didn’t appreciate Clark standing there,” Parent said. “You watch something like that and it just makes you sick inside. You just want to beat those guys down.”

In the bottom of the third, Parent had his chance. Gwynn and Garry Templeton were on base and Parent was at the plate.

“Yeah, I was surprised I had the green light, but that’s probably happened a couple of other times this year,” Parent said. “I knew I got (the ball) good, I just didn’t know if I got it over the fence. I was blowing it as I rounded first.”

Out in the Padre bullpen, a few pitchers were shuddering. They watched Oberkfell, Mitchell, Gwynn and Parent all hit homers before the third inning had ended.

“After Parent’s home run, (Greg) Booker turned to me with this grin on his face and said, ‘The ball is really carrying today,’ ” Grant said. “I agreed. We saw Mitchell’s ball go out, but we didn’t see where it landed. And then Parent hit his home run. The ball was flying. It was one of those days.”

By the fourth, Grant was trying to prevent the ball from flying. He lasted into the ninth, giving up two runs and six hits.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the Giants’ fourth, pinch-hitter Candy Maldonado was sent out to face Pat Clements. That brought Padre pitching coach Pat Dobson to the mound.

“When they announced the right-handed pinch-hitter, I knew I’d be in,” Grant said. “I just tried to have a positive outlook.”

So Grant worked the count to three and two before getting Maldonado to ground to Templeton at short.

“That helped my confidence a lot,” Grant said. “But the big inning for me was the next one, because we scored three runs and then I threw a zero. That takes a lot out of a club, psychologically.”

Grant, who had one hit and reached base three times, scored the Padres’ first run in the fourth on a passed ball. Then, Gwynn and Martinez each singled home a run.

Gwynn, who had three singles to go with a homer and a standing ovation, said he noticed a difference in the team after McKeon’s tongue-lashing.

“It had a big effect,” Gwynn said. “Jack said some things that needed to be said. We’ve been making a lot of mistakes, the same ones over and over.

“Today, guys were thinking about what they had to do. The conversation before the game was on Scott Garrelts and where he threw. We talked about what we had to do, and we did it. The last two days were ugly, in my mind. We can live with physical mistakes, but not mental.”

Garrelts (6-3) lasted just 2 2/3 innings, allowing six runs and seven hits.

Still, nothing is easy for these Padres, and that included taking a 10-5 lead into the ninth Sunday. Grant gave up two singles and a walk to start the ninth, and then gave way to Davis.

Davis got two outs and then walked Donell Nixon and Brett Butler, forcing in two runs.

“I thought the pitches were real close,” Davis said. “I just throw them, though. I’m the pitcher, not the umpire. I thought they were good pitches.”

Greg Litton lined to Alomar at second for the final out.

Padre Notes

The Padres have a mandatory practice this morning at 11. Manager Jack McKeon said the club will work on fundamentals. He also said he would bench players in the future if needed, regardless of their feelings. “After (Saturday’s 3-1 loss to San Francisco, which led to McKeon’s closed-door team meeting), I’m not concerned with anybody’s feelings anymore. I’m concerned with my feelings. My feelings have been hurt for one-third of a season. I’m getting paid to do a job, and I’m not worried about feelings.” . . . Sunday’s crowd put the Padres over the million mark. The club has drawn 1,006,152 this year. . . . The itinerary isn’t pretty for this week’s trip. The Padres leave Los Angeles after Thursday’s game and are due to arrive in St. Louis at 4 a.m. Friday.