Padres Get 13 Hits, But Don’t Score

Second baseman Tim Teufel sat alone for 40 minutes in the trainers’ room Friday night after the Padres’ 1-0 defeat to the Pittsburgh Pirates, too numb to move, too incensed to talk, too despondent to think.

“Man, to lose a game like that,” Teufel said when he finally emerged, “everything you think of is negative. And that one play, well, that turned out to be the play of the game.”

It indeed was a game that left both teams emotionally drained. It also sent statisticians to the record books, trying to find out the last time something like this has happened.

The Padres had 13 hits--all singles--one shy of the major-league record for most hits in a shutout, last accomplished July 10, 1926, by the Cleveland Indians in a 9-0 defeat to the Washington Senators. And you have to go back 78 years to find the last time a National League team had more hits in a shutout, Sept. 14, 1913, by the New York Giants in a 7-0 defeat to the Chicago Cubs.

“It seemed like we had 92 hits tonight,” Padre left fielder Darrin Jackson said. “You look at the scoreboard and see all the hits up there, and you think something’s wrong because we should have some runs to go with it.

“I’ll be honest about it, that one was a real tough one to lose. When you get 13 hits, you’ve got to score.”

The Pirates had only seven hits themselves--all singles--but a Barry Bonds walk in the second, a wild pitch, and a hit off the end of Don Slaught’s bat was all the offense the Pirates needed.

“Baseball’s a funny game,” said Padre starter Bruce Hurst (6-3), not knowing what else to say.

Perhaps the Padres would have been laughing, if not for Teufel’s baserunning blunder in the seventh inning.

The Padres, who went down in order in only one inning, never had a better opportunity to score than in the seventh.

Teufel, snapping a zero-for-14 skid, led off the seventh with a single off Pirate starter Doug Drabek. Scott Coolbaugh, who went three for three, sacrificed Teufel to second.

Darrin Jackson then lofted a shallow fly ball to left-center. Left fielder Barry Bonds and center fielder Andy Van Slyke converged, Van Slyke caught it, and they collided, with the ball dropping out of Van Slyke’s glove. Teufel was unable to advance because he thought the ball would be caught.

Tom Lampkin, pinch-hitting for Hurst, flied out to shallow left, bringing up center fielder Thomas Howard. On a 1-2 count, Howard hit a sharp single to center.

“I got a great jump,” Teufel said, “a great jump. As soon as that ball was hit, I was gone.”

The ball reached Van Slyke, a three-time Gold Glove winner, on one bounce. He saw third base coach Bruce Kimm put the stop sign up for Teufel. He also saw Teufel running right through it.

“I saw Bruce Kimm put his hands up,” Van Slyke said, “but I can’t read Tim Teufel’s mind. I’ve got to to throw.”

Teufel, knowing too that Van Slyke has one of the finest arms in the game, put his head down and kept running. He ran to third. He rounded third. He was nearly halfway to third when he heard Kimm scream out, ‘Stop!’ ”

“I was anticipating him sending me home with two outs in a one-run game,” Teufel said. “It was a case of me anticipating the coach instead of letting the coach dictate the play.”

The moment Teufel stopped, the ball came to Slaught, the catcher. Teufel had nowhere to go. Slaught threw the ball to third baseman Jeff King, who threw the ball back to Slaught, who tagged out Teufel.

Enraged, Teufel flung his batting helmet toward the dugout, went to the bench to pick up his glove and walked back onto the field feeling miserable.

“I asked people on the bench how close it was,” Teufel said, “and they just shook their head, saying, ‘No way.”’

Teufel had one last chance for redemption in the ninth, when he led off against Stan Belinda. One swing of the bat, one ball over the fence, and Teufel knew his blunder would be forgotten. Then, just as he envisioned, he hit the ball as hard as he could toward the center-field fence. There was no doubt in his mind he had at least a double, and probably a homer.

“It was in the back of my mind,” Teufel said, “thinking here’s my change to redeem myself. And I thought I did.”

Teufel watched in disbelief as Van Slyke leaped against the fence, put his glove high in the air and snared the ball two feet shy of clearing the 10-foot fence.

“I don’t know if I caught it and hit the wall, or hit the wall and caught it, or it was simultaneous,” Van Slyke said, “but whatever that padding cost was well worth it.”

The Padres, who stranded 10 baserunners, had one final gasp when Coolbaugh singled to center, and one out later, Jim Presley singled to left for his first hit since May 9. Howard stepped up the plate, and slammed the ball deep to center field, to the warning track, to almost a foot before the fence, when out came that glove of Van Slyke, pulling the ball in for the final out.

“I’m telling you, I was a wreck that whole game,” said Pirate Manager Jim Leyland, whose club has a seven-game lead in the National League East.

Said Padre Manager Greg Riddoch: “We threw out all our artillery; we threw out everything we had at them.

“It’s just that they caught everything we had, too.”