Padres Lose a Wild One : Baseball: Thomas’ 12th-inning home run gives Braves 11-10 victory, leaves Padres shaking their heads.

Someone should have called in Rod Serling. He could have come out of nowhere Sunday afternoon, materialized onto the baseball diamond at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, looked at the crowd of 16,298 and provided relief.

“The scene you are witnessing is not a baseball game,” he might have said. “But, of course, you probably already have figured that out. Nothing like this happens in real baseball games. Even you, watching the most dreadful team in all of the National League, realize that.

“Come on, how can real major league players forget how many outs there are in an inning? How can three-run leads vanish as if they’re playing tee-ball? How can a Padre pitcher, who never pinch-hit before in his career, hit a three-run double, and be replaced by another pitcher as a pinch-runner? How a guy boot two balls, go hitless in his first five at-bats, then become the hero?

“You see, there’s only one explanation.

“You have entered the Twilight Zone.”

The fans would have cheered. The Padres and Atlanta Braves could have stood there, breaking into laughter. And Padre Manager Jack McKeon and Brave Manager Russ Nixon would have felt a whole lot better.

But as it was, everyone had to sit there and endure 4 hours and 15 minutes of what amounted to a simulated baseball game, before the Braves finally persevered, winning 11-10 in 12 innings on Andres Thomas’ leadoff home run.

“I’ve seen some crazy games in my life,” said Padre pitcher Ed Whitson, “but this takes the cake.”

Yes, when you get 17 hits, hit two home runs, steal seven bases, and have a pitcher come off the bench to deliver a three-run double in the 10th inning, and still lose, there’s little wonder no one in the Padre clubhouse felt like touching a bite of dinner.

The Padres used 23 players, including 20 in the first nine innings, leaving out only starter Andy Benes and reliever Eric Show.

The Braves used 20 pitchers, including their entire bullpen.

Bruce Hurst, the Padres’ starting pitcher, lasted just 1 1/3 innings, the shortest outing of his Padre career. Hurst (4-6), who yielded four hits and five earned runs, has won just one game since May 18.

Pete Smith, the Braves’ starting pitcher, hardly was better, yielding seven hits and lasting four innings.

The Braves were within one strike of winning the game in the ninth inning. But Jack Clark drew a walk and Padre third baseman Mike Pagliarulo followed with a run-scoring double.

The Padres were within two outs of winning in the 10th, owning a three-run lead with their best reliever on the mound, and still managed to blow the lead when Jeff Blauser hit a three-run homer.

So, it was only fitting, right, that the hero of this game is the same man the Braves crowd spent booing the entire afternoon--shortstop Andres Thomas.

After publicly requesting a trade earlier in the week, Thomas was booed the moment he stepped on the field. So you can just imagine what they thought of him the previous 11 innings when he booted the first ball of the game, dropped a throw by his catcher on a steal attempt, kicked another ball in the seventh, and was hitless in his first five at-bats?

Funny, what a little home run can do to change someone’s opinion.

The homer was hit off Craig Lefferts, the same man who gave up Blauser’s three-run homer in the 10th inning, erasing the heroics of Dennis Rasmussen, who hit a pinch-hit, three-run double in the top of the 10th.

But, of course, Lefferts has pitched in four consecutive games--8 2/3 innings. Incredibly, he has pitched more innings the past two weeks than starters Dennis Rasmussen and Hurst combined.

“I just didn’t have anything today,” Lefferts said. “Usually I pitch good when I’m tired, but not today. It’s time, I think, for a day off.”

But instead of laying the blame of this defeat in the left arm of Lefferts, or in the bats of Joe Carter or Garry Templeton, McKeon credited this baby to the carelessness of Roberto Alomar.

It was Alomar who perhaps cost the Padres the game with his baserunning blunder in the 12th. He was standing on second base with one out when Joe Carter hit a fly ball to center field. Alomar took off running toward third, and upon seeing that center fielder Ron Gant would catch the ball, he eased up and casually rounded third.

He became startled when he heard the screaming by his father, third base coach Sandy Alomar, and half of the bench. “There’s only one out, Robbie, get back.” Oh-oh.

Alomar reversed course, ran on the inside part of third base bag, and headed back to the second. Whew, everything would be OK, he thought. Sorry, Brave third baseman Jim Presley saw everything, called for an appeal play because Alomar never touched the third-base bag when returning to second.

Ed Rapuano, the third-base umpire, still called him safe. But he was overruled by home-plate umpire Charlie Williams, who called him out.

McKeon bolted out of the dugout, arguing the call, while Sandy Alomar joined in. McKeon confessed that he never knew if Roberto Alomar had touched the third-base bag or not, but since he was out there, he might as well let out some frustration.

Any frustration that remained inside McKeon, seeped out quite loudly after the game inside his office while talking about Alomar’s gaffe.

“He’s got to get his head out . . .,” McKeon said. “You’ve got to know how many . . . outs there are. Maybe he needs to sit down for a few days to see what the hell’s going on.

“Hell, you should be able to count in this game, shouldn’t you. I mean, it’s not that damn tough. He wants to be in the All-Star Game, maybe he should learn to count.

“Maybe what we need is to get some cards made up, so Sandy can just flash them up, showing one or two outs. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do, get some cards made up.”

Alomar, irritated by the perception that he was the goat, said: “I’m not going to give any excuses, but it’s the only mistake I made. Why should I feel embarrassed? How can they blame the loss on me? I’m not thinking about the damn All-Star Game, I just want to go out and play. It’s bull . . . that they blame this game on me.

“If he (McKeon) wants to put up cards for the outs, let him. I don’t care. It’s fine with me.”

Yet, it’s not like this is the first time the Padres have lost track of the outs or count in an inning. Four times in the past week the Padres have been confused counting to three.

--Alomar turned what he thought was a double play Wednesday against the Giants, not realizing there were already two outs.

--Padre outfielder Shawn Abner walked off the field with a two-count strike on Joe Carter, thinking he had struck out.

--Padre starter Andy Benes forgot the count while pitching June 15 against the Dodgers.

--And third baseman Mike Pagliarulo thought there were three outs May 9 in St. Louis, allowing a run to score.

“I don’t know what the hell to do,” McKeon said. “Maybe next year we’ll see if we can have a change in the rules, and have four outs an inning.

“You assume people can count in this game.

“Apparently not.”

Padre Notes

Eric Show on being one of only two Padres not to play Sunday: “I’m no longer surprised when I don’t pitch, I’m surprised when I do. If I got upset over this, I’d be upset almost every day of this year.”. . . Dennis Rasmussen raised his batting average to .360 after his pinch-hit double. . . . The Padres have hired two security guards for the players’ wives for their current family trip, paying them $900 apiece for their seven days of service.