Benes Takes Complete Control as Padres Beat Phillies, 5-1

Andy Benes had not gotten a victory in three weeks, but things were looking pretty good along about the fifth inning Monday night.

Except for one thing. It was the Padre half of the fifth, and Benes was standing in the tunnel behind the Padre dugout, getting an earful from pitching coach Pat Dobson.

According to the scoreboard, Benes and the Padres were winning. But Benes ran into trouble in the fifth for the second consecutive game and, according to Dobson, he was not pitching intelligently.

The lecture worked. Benes regained command of the Philadelphia Phillies in the sixth and pitched the Padres to a 5-1 victory in front of 16,389 in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

It was a night for Joe Carter and Tony Gwynn, who each had two-run homers. And, it was a night for Garry Templeton, who kicked the Padre offense into gear with a run-scoring single in the second.

But most of all, the night belonged to Andy Benes (3-3). He went the distance for the first time in his brief career, shutting the Phillies down on just two hits. He struck out five and walked four.

“I’m real excited,” Benes said. “I was wondering in the fifth if I was going to get there. I was taking it one pitch at a time, I challenged them and got ahead in the count.”

Said Padre Manager Jack McKeon: “First of all, God blessed him with a good arm. His breaking stuff is coming along and his change-up was coming.”

Now, about that fifth.

It was about then that Dobson thought Benes’ mental effort needed to catch up with the rest of his repertoire.

Said Dobson: “I told him, ‘You know the hitters. You know where they’re vulnerable. Go after them. These guys can’t hit your fastball.’ ”

The problem was this: Benes took a no-hitter and a 3-0 lead into the fifth, but then started to get a bit too fancy. He walked John Kruk, but got out of that when third baseman Mike Pagliarulo made a nice play to start a double play on Dickie Thon’s hard-hit ground ball.

So Benes was still in control, right? Not so fast. Darren Daulton followed with a single, his 200th big league hit and the Phillies’ first of the game.

That brought up the Phillies’ No. 8 hitter, Charlie Hayes.

Benes walked him.

Dobson was seething in the dugout.

“I don’t know what I was thinking, throwing the eight hitter all sliders,” Benes said. “Dobber got on me about that. He lit a fire under me, and it was good for me.”

Curt Ford followed with a single, loading the bases.

Up stepped Lenny Dykstra, the NL’s leading batter entering the game at .398.

Benes walked him, forcing in Daulton.

“With Dykstra, I was too fine,” Benes said. “But he’s been hot, and I didn’t want him to hit it out of the park.”

Benes got the next batter, Tom Herr, to ground to second to end the inning.

In the last three weeks, Benes has discovered that life in the major leagues is not all strikeouts and one-two-three innings.

His last victory had come three weeks ago, on April 23. Since then, he has pitched well and gotten nothing but a no-decision to show for it. He has pitched poorly and gotten two losses to show for it.

The no-decision came May 5 in Chicago, when he held the Cubs to just one run in seven innings. That, you may recall, was the game in which Shawon Dunston hit a two-out, two-run ninth-inning homer off Craig Lefferts to send the Padres wallowing into defeat.

That was sandwiched between two losses in which he was hit hard. The first was April 28 in Pittsburgh, when he was hammered for four runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. The second was in St. Louis last week, when he allowed five hits and a walk in the fifth and ended up losing.

Monday, Benes went the distance, although he had to escape trouble in the fifth to do so.

“Next game I’m going to skip the fifth,” he said. “I’ll go from the fourth to the sixth, maybe have two sixth innings. I don’t know what to attribute that to.”

So how about a word for the Padre offense?

Hot.

Carter and Pagliarulo each got hits to increase their batting streaks to nine games apiece. Roberto Alomar went two for four to run his batting streak to seven games. Tony Gwynn went three for four to increase his batting streak to six games.

As for Pagliarulo, the nine-game streak matches his career high, which came in 1988 when he was with the Yankees.

And then there was Templeton, who drove in the Padres’ first run by reaching out and poking an 0-2 pitch into center field for a single.

“Good at-bat,” Gwynn said. “It was a pitcher’s pitch. It wasn’t a hitter’s pitch. Tempy did a good job.”

Templeton was in that position because the Padres were able to take advantage of a Philadelphia error.

Pagliarulo grounded to Ricky Jordan at first with one out and Shawn Abner on first, and Jordan chose to throw to second and attempt to start a double play. Problem was, his throw was high and wide to the right, and Thon was unable to come down and touch the base before throwing back to first. Both runners were called safe, although Phillie manager Nick Leyva argued the call at second.

Up stepped Templeton.

Pat Combs, with a few balls to work with, got a little too close to the plate on pitch No. 3 and Templeton reached out and poked it into center field, allowing Abner to score.

An inning later, Carter increased his team leading runs-batted in total to 28 with a two-run homer to right-center. It was his fourth of the year.

Two innings after that, Gwynn added another two-run homer. Roberts led the fifth off with a single to right off Don Carman, who had replaced Combs. Gwynn followed by putting a 3-1 pitch over the right field fence.

“I knew it was in the gap, and I didn’t think he’d catch it,” Gwynn said. “When it went out, I was as surprised as anybody. But I’ll take it.”

The Padres have won 15 of their last 17 against Philadelphia dating back to 1988, and they have won nine in a row at home against the Phillies.

Padre Notes

Pitcher Mike Dunne joined the Padres in time for Monday night’s game. Dunne was 1-2 with a 3.21 earned-run average in a rehabilitation assignment in Las Vegas (triple-A). He will work out of the bullpen at least until Wednesday. . . . There were more handshakes and catcalls going on before Monday’s game than at your typical family reunion. It was the first 1990 San Diego appearance of the Philadelphia Phillies, or, the Padres East. Outfielder Carmelo Martinez (a Padre from 1984-89) and shortstop Dickie Thon (1988) visited the Padre clubhouse before batting practice, and later joined outfielder John Kruk (1986-89) and infielder Randy Ready (1986-89) on the field for more talk with their former teammates. Also among the familiar faces was former Padre Manager Larry Bowa and third baseman Dave Hollins, who played in the Padre farm system until the Phillies drafted him last winter. “When I went over there (to the Padre clubhouse), it was like I never left,” Martinez said. “I have a good relationship with all of the guys over there.” Martinez still isn’t playing every day, but he is batting .286 with three home runs and 12 runs-batted in. “I’m swinging the bat pretty good,” he said. “At least here, I know what my job is. In San Diego, I didn’t know. I’d play two or three games and then go back to the bench. It’s not fun when you’re not playing every day, but I’m happy to be wearing a big league uniform.” The Phillies’ clubhouse featured Padre Row: Kruk, Thon, Ready and Martinez used four lockers in a row along one of the walls. . . . If they’re not careful, they’ll find themselves pinch-hitting soon: Padre pitchers hit several home runs during batting practice Monday. “At least 12,” said Amos Otis, Padre batting coach. Two came off the bat of Mark Grant, who had never hit one--in a game or in batting practice--in his professional career. He was so excited after his first that he ran the bases screaming, arms up in the air. “Had to,” Grant said. “I told myself two years ago that I’d do that if I ever hit one in b.p. I was tired of everyone else hitting them at will.” Juiced ball? “Must have been,” he said. . . . Utah native Bruce Hurst modeled a Brigham Young tee-shirt and baseball cap for Tony Gwynn before the game. Problem is, Gwynn went to San Diego State, a Western Athletic Conference rival of BYU. “Want a pair?” Hurst teased. “Yeah, if you give me some gasoline, too,” Gwynn replied, laughing. . . . Remember, tonight’s game will start at 7:35 p.m. because it is being televised as a back-up game on ESPN. . . . Joey Cora turned 25 Monday.