Reds Bring Own Fireworks, Rip Padres, 10-1

It would be stretching the point to say that the Padres offered even token resistance to the Cincinnati Reds at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium Friday night.

The Reds scored five runs in the first inning and got two more in the second off former teammate Dennis Rasmussen en route to a 10-1 victory that preserved their 3 1/2-game lead over the Dodgers in the National League West.

A crowd of 44,717, lured in part by a postgame fireworks display, booed loudly and often as the Padres were mathematically eliminated from the race that some experts predicted they would dominate.

The Padres also were knocked out by the Reds at home a year ago, but the circumstances were quite different. Instead of stumbling along in fourth place as they are now, the Padres of 1989 were to finish second, three games behind the San Francisco Giants.

Right-hander Jose Rijo of the Reds was as sharp as Rasmussen was flat, breezing to a five-hitter that ran his record to 13-7. He was in trouble only in the first and final innings. In the first, the Padres loaded the bases with two out before Benito Santiago bounced into a force out. In the ninth, the Padres scored their only run.

Barry Larkin and Eric Davis hit home runs and Mariano Duncan contributed three singles as the Reds totaled 13 hits off Rasmussen, Calvin Schiraldi and Eric Show.

Davis had three RBIs and Hal Morris and Joe Oliver each drove in two.

Bip Roberts was the only Padre who wasn’t mystified by Rijo’s pitching. He had three singles in four at-bats, raising his average to .311. His third hit started the ninth-inning rally and helped the Padres avert a shutout.

Roberts advanced to second on a walk to Jerald Clark and scored on Joe Carter’s single.

Rijo was pitching on three days’ rest for the first time this season, but continued a seven-game streak during which he has a 5-1 record and 1.11 earned-run average.

“He has just been overpowering,” Red Manager Lou Piniella said. “We’ve got him throwing between starts, which he wasn’t doing earlier because of tenderness in his back. I was going to get (remove) him after they got that run, but he wanted to stay in.”

The victory reduced the Reds’ magic number to nine with 12 games remaining, and Piniella said, “The Dodgers are scoring a lot of runs, but if we win nine, we don’t have to worry about anything.

“These guys out here have stayed loose through all this (recent slump), contrary to what some people say about them. We feel real good right now.”

The Reds wasted no time with Rasmussen. An error by shortstop Garry Templeton made four of their five first-inning runs unearned, but there was nothing tainted about any of their four hits. They batted around and drew boos from the crowd.