Reds Finish Trip By Beating Padres

This was not exactly your run-of-the-mill home stand for the Padres. Nor was it a normal road trip for the Cincinnati Reds.

But in a matter of 10 zany days for both clubs, the Padres and Reds have come full circle.

With a 6-3 loss Wednesday afternoon, the Padres closed their most successful home stand (7-4) of the season as they began it--with a loss to the first-place Reds.

For the Reds, their bookend victories over the Padres mercifully ended their worst road trip of 1990 at 3-8.

Ten days ago, the Reds routed the Padres, 9-2, in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, to kick things off. At the time, they had the best record in baseball, and with their 12th victory in 17 games, appeared to be cruising to their first division title since 1979.

The Padres, coming off one of their worst road trips in their 21-year history at 1-10, lost that night for the 21st time in 24 games and appeared headed to the cellar.

Fortunes changed drastically.

The Padres beat the Reds in the next three games, by a combined score of 22-5, took three out of four from Houston and split two games with Atlanta. Cincinnati ended up losing eight in a row before finally beating the Dodgers, 5-2, Tuesday, and lost 5 1/2 games of its 11-game lead over the San Francisco Giants.

“To lose that first game to them, and then come back the way we did, it’s been a crazy week and a half. To be honest, it was a pleasant surprise,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said.

Said Cincinnati Manager Lou Piniella, “It’s been a tough trip. It really has.”

And the action on the field was only part of the circus. There was Roseanne Barr’s rendition of the national anthem, there were the persistent trade rumors involving Jack Clark and there was Piniella’s name being thrust into baseball’s investigation of the relationship between George Steinbrenner and Howard Spira.

Crazy?

“That’s for sure,” Tony Gwynn said.

So what happens now?

The Padres and Reds returned Wednesday to Cincinnati, where today they open a four-game series. It marks the start of a 10-game road trip for the Padres, who have the worst road record (17-27) in baseball.

The Reds, meanwhile, play 18 of their next 20 games games at Riverfront Stadium, where they own the best home record (30-14) in baseball. But consider, the Reds were 13-3 in April, 17-9 in May, 16-14 in June and 14-15 in July.

“We’ve got no excuse now,” Piniella said. “We’re going to be home in August. Now’s the time to put this thing away.”

The Reds had exactly that in mind Wednesday afternoon, too. In front of a crowd of 11,317, the Padres’ second lowest home crowd, the Reds scored one in the first, three in the third and two in the fifth.

The Padres then got on the board on Clark’s 19th home run of the season. Clark has five homers in his last seven games, the last three coming on 3-2 counts.

“It was a fastball in. Three-two, he’s got to come in,” Clark said.

Asked about his increased production lately--Clark is hitting .347 (26 for 75) with nine homers and 18 runs batted in his last 22 games--he said: “I’m just trying to hit, period. Trying to hit the ball hard.”

The Padres added two more in the eighth, but reliever Rob Dibble got the Padres one-two-three in the ninth to preserve the victory for rookie Scott Scudder (3-4), who scattered six hits in seven-plus innings.

Scudder walked pinch-hitter Garry Templeton to begin the eighth, and Piniella called upon Dibble. Bip Roberts greeted the All-Star right-hander with a line-drive single to left. After Roberto Alomar struck out on a feeble attempt at an 0-2 fastball, Gwynn drilled a double to right-center field that scored Templeton and Roberts.

Templeton’s run marked the first time a Padre pinch-hitter had scored in 33 games, dating back to June 27 at Houston.

With Gwynn on second and the Padres looking for their second come-from-behind victory in two days--they scored six runs in the final three innings Tuesday to down Atlanta--who were due up but . . . Phil Stephenson and Thomas Howard?

Stephenson had replaced Clark at first base and Howard had taken over for Joe Carter in left in the top of the inning, when the score was 6-1. Both made good contact, but Stephenson lined to short and Howard to left to end the threat.

Certainly, Clark and Carter--third in the National League with 72 RBIs--would have posed a bigger threat, but Riddoch defended the early exits for his big RBI guys by pointing out that the Padres were down, 6-1, when he made the move, and the Reds have one of the best bullpens in the league.

“The Reds bullpen, that enters into it a little right there,” Riddoch said. “When you’ve got the Nasty Boys (Dibble and Randy Myers) down there, that might change you’re thinking a little bit.”

Said Clark of the move: “I’m not the boss. I just work here. I’ve got to go by whatever orders are layed down for me.”

Andy Benes started for the Padres and was tagged for four runs in 2 2/3 innings before Riddoch brought in Derek Lilliquist. It was the quickest exit by a Padre starting pitcher since Riddoch took over for Jack McKeon on July 11.

Entering the game, Benes was the Padres ace in day games. He had a 1.91 earned run average in 37 2/3 day innings, allowing opposing hitters just 30 hits in 142 at-bats for a .211 average. Of the 15 batters Benes faced Wednesday, seven got hits and one walked. He threw 64 pitches.

“I didn’t have good stuff coming out of the bullpen. I didn’t have much pop,” said Benes, a right-hander who had missed two starts in July with a sore left shoulder.

On the bright side for the Padres, John Davis (three shutout innings, two hits and four strikeouts) and Rich Rodriguez (one shutout inning, one hit, one strikeout) pitched well out of the bullpen. Davis, who has thrown 5 1/3 innings, lowered his ERA to 3.38 from a team-high 7.71. Rodriguez lowered his ERA to 3.00 in 18 innings.

The Reds pounded out 14 hits, including Chris Sabo’s 19th homer, in the fifth inning off Lilliquist. In their previous three games, the Reds had just nine hits.

Before Tuesday’s game with the Dodgers, Piniella decided to shake things up by placing first baseman Hal Morris in the leadoff spot and shortstop Barry Larkin in the cleanup role, both for the first times in their careers. Morris and Larkin each had two hits, as did Sabo and catcher Jeff Reed. Center fielder Eric Davis had three hits.

Padre Notes

After Wednesday’s game, the Padres announced that outfielder Thomas Howard is being returned to triple-A Las Vegas. The Padres will recall Darrin Jackson, who is expected to join the team today in Cincinnati. Howard batted .273 in 44 at-bats for the Padres. Manager Greg Riddoch said he wanted Howard to get some playing time in Las Vegas rather than sitting on the bench with the Padres. Jackson was batting .278 with two homers and eight RBIs in 17 games at Las Vegas. . . . Because of the 1:05 p.m. start Wednesday, neither the Padres nor the Reds took batting or infield practice before the game. . . . Heading into Wednesday’s game, the Padres and Reds had identical 26-22 records against Western Division teams. The Padres (45-57) missed a chance at reaching .500 at home. They are 28-30 there. . . . Pitcher Mike Dunne, who had a broken right femur, had the cast removed Tuesday, two weeks ahead of schedule. He said he may be back for the final two weeks of the season. . . . In the minors Tuesday, Joey Cora had four hits for Las Vegas. Robbie Beckett, the Padres’ No. 1 draft choice in June, was a winner for Scottsdale in the Arizona Rookie League, allowing two runs and six hits over six innings.