Harris’ Off Day Is Little Relief as Padres Lose

He dressed slowly, like he was 26 going on 46. He pulled on a pair of shorts, then his tennis shoes.

Then he paused.

“Oh, man,” he said.

Greg Harris isn’t used to dressing slowly. Not this year, anyway. When he woke up Sunday, he was 3-0, with a 1.70 earned-run average. He had three saves, two of which came in his last two appearances.

Then came Sunday’s appearance against Atlanta, when he brought those numbers into the eighth inning of a tied game. Atlanta squeezed two runs out of him in the 10th for a 4-2 victory before 17,151 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“It was one of those games when timely hitting makes a difference,” Bip Roberts said. “They got them. They came out and did what they had to do, they battled and they hit a home run.”

Oh, man. This one took a piece of a few Padre hearts along with it. Harris has had a good season, but Sunday wasn’t one of his better days.

“I just don’t see a lot of consolation in losing,” Harris said. “Everybody can say what they want, but if I pitch 15 innings of shutout and get beat in the 16th, it still hurts.”

Starter Bruce Hurst had good stuff, but that’s been the case all season. What’s left to say about Hurst’s year? The Padres don’t score many runs for him. Sunday, Atlanta’s Charlie Leibrandt matched him, pitch for pitch and inning for inning.

Hurst’s day was ruined when Lonnie Smith homered in the eighth, sending the game into extra innings--just the second extra-inning game for the Padres this season.

Ultimately, it was a day that looked like several others for Hurst. He allowed just two runs and seven hits, and he struck out five and walked none. Harris (3-1) got the loss; Hurst’s record stayed at 3-5.

“Actually, (Hurst) has really just pitched one bad game,” pitching coach Pat Dobson said. “Other than that, he’s kept us in the game pretty much every time he’s gone out there. He just isn’t pitching on the right day right now.”

In four of those losses, the Padres have scored two or fewer runs. In the five losses combined, the Padres have scored eight runs.

“One of those things,” McKeon said. “He was through it last year. We didn’t score too many runs for him last year. Certain guys go through that for a while.”

Hurst gave up one run in the third, when Leibrandt and Smith singled. Leibrandt scored on Ron Gant’s double. After that, he allowed just one baserunner in the next three innings.

Meanwhile, the Padres put a runner on second in each of the first three innings but scored just once. That came in the second, when Darrin Jackson scored from second on Mark Parent’s single.

The Padres then took the lead in the fifth, courtesy of Roberts. He doubled to left-center with two out. He took a lead off second, and looked around. He liked what he saw.

“I saw the infield playing back, trying to cut off ground balls,” he said. “They weren’t paying attention (to the baserunner) because there were two outs.”

So, with Roberto Alomar standing at the plate, he took off toward third. Catcher Greg Olson’s throw sailed into left field. Roberts scored. It was 2-1, Padres.

They went into the eighth. Hurst got one out. Up stepped Smith, with nobody on.

The guessing game began.

Hurst threw a fastball. Smith swung and missed.

“I felt that was the best pitch I threw all day,” Hurst said.

Parent called for another fastball. Hurst, figuring Smith had just taken a pretty good cut at a fastball, shook Parent off. They went with a change-up.

Hurst wanted it low. It came in neck-high. Smith deposited it over the left-field fence. The game was tied, 2-2.

“From my experience, it’s really difficult to hit both the change-up and fastball with any authority,” Hurst said. “He just reacted to it, or he went with me when I shook (Parent off).”

Whatever, Hurst would get one more out before giving way to Harris.

What a difference a couple of days make. Harris faced the Braves on Thursday and earned his third save. He faced six Atlanta batters and struck out four. And when he stepped on the mound Sunday, he had struck out seven of the previous 11 batters he faced.

But who can explain what sometimes happens to a pitcher from one appearance to the next? Harris got out of the eighth, breezed through the ninth and then got into trouble in the 10th.

“I just didn’t feel good,” he said. “I was out of sync in my mechanics.”

He started the 10th by walking Olson. Alexis Infante then attempted to sacrifice, but his bunt went back to Harris, who threw Olson out at second. Infante was safe at first.

Up stepped Jeff Treadway, pinch-hitting for pitcher Charlie Kerfeld. Treadway sliced a Harris pitch into the left-center gap, and Infante scored. Three batters later, Treadway scored on a Gant single.

Harris said he felt out of sync in the bullpen, but he thought he would snap out of it once he entered the game.

“I thought when I got to the mound my concentration would pull things together,” he said.

It did, but only until the 10th.

As for the Padre offense, it was pretty quiet. After banging out 31 hits in their previous two games, they managed just five Sunday--all against Leibrandt, who was making his Atlanta debut. He was acquired from Kansas City in December but injured his left rotator cuff in February. He began the season on the disabled list but was activated Saturday night.

“(Leibrandt) did a pretty damn good job,” McKeon said. “Those are the guys who give us trouble, the change-of-speeders, 70-miles an hour pitchers.”

Said Tony Gwynn: “Slider, change-up, and spot the fastball. We really didn’t hit the ball hard all day, but we still put two runs on the board. It wasn’t enough.

“I’m sure people will look at it like, ‘These guys didn’t do squat’, but it’s pitching.”

The Braves got it when they needed it, and the Padres fell just short.

“I’ve got to give credit where credit is due,” Harris said. “They hit some good pitches, I thought. I guess it happens sometimes. Sometimes it goes your way, and sometimes it doesn’t. It just didn’t today.”

Padre Notes

First baseman Jack Clark said he is getting close to being able to return to the lineup. “It could be any day,” he said. “I’m as close as I’m going to get now until the remainder of the season.” Clark has been out since May 5 with a sore back and fractured cheekbone. . . . The major league free agent draft starts today. The Padres have the 25th pick in the first round. Their last first-round pick was Andy Benes in 1988, the first player chosen in the draft that year. . . . Tony Gwynn, who had seven hits in his previous two games, was zero for four Sunday. His average is .330. . . . Roberto Alomar was one for three Sunday, keeping his average at .332. . . . Remember, Tuesday’s game against Houston has been changed to 7:35 p.m. to accommodate ESPN. . . . Rob Nelson hit another home run Saturday for Las Vegas (triple-A), his fourth of the season. The Stars lost to Albuquerque, 5-2. . . . Also in the minors, Tim Worrell, the brother of Todd Worrell of the St. Louis Cardinals, went 5 1/3 innings Saturday for the victory for Charleston, S.C., a Padre single-A affiliate. Charleston defeated Savannah, 3-0.