Padres Supply Runs; Hurst Does the Rest : Baseball: Rally in eighth inning against St. Louis bullpen gives Padres a 7-2 victory over Cardinals.

There was no bunting draped over the railings. There were more than 40,000 empty seats. And the most emotion shown by the fans at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium was when the scoreboard showed the final seconds of the Lakers’ loss to the Chicaco Bulls.

So it might seem crazy that Padre starter Bruce Hurst felt World Series-type pressure and championship exhilaration Wednesday after the Padres defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-2, in front of 15,636.

Hurst (7-3) knew the moment he stepped on the mound Wednesday that he had opened himself up to a lot of good-natured ridicule by his teammates.

You see, Hurst was given permission to leave the team Monday to catch an early flight out of Pittsburgh to San Diego. His teammates kidded him unmercifully. Sure, Jose Melendez left early, too, but he was scheduled to pitch Tuesday . Hurst would have had nearly 48 hours to recover from their late-night flight. It couldn’t be that he had a golf game lined up, did he?

Hurst shrugged off the sarcasm Monday, took his early flight and was in bed asleep when the Padre’s chartered flight arrived at 3 Tuesday morning. Of course, if his loving teammates had it their way, Hurst would have been getting up at 3, because someone got the idea to telephone Hurst from the plane.

“We thought Bruce might be restless, wondering if we got in OK,” one Padre said, laughing. “We didn’t want to worry about us.”

Much to his teammates’ chagrin, however, the telephone on the plane wasn’t working, and Hurst was able to sleep through the night.

“I told them they’re lucky that phone wasn’t working,” Hurst said, “or else I would have kept them on the line for four hours at airphone prices.”

When the Padres arrived at the ballpark Wednesday, they again teased Hurst, saying how well-rested he must feel. They also reminded him there would be no excuses if he pitched poorly. Hurst simply smiled and filled out the pass list, requesting 20 tickets for friends and family.

By the time Hurst was done pitching, no one was saying a word. Hurst allowed four hits in seven innings, retiring 16 of the final 17 batters he faced. The top five batters in the Cardinal lineup went one for 20 with an infield single.

“I knew I better pitch well,” Hurst said, “but in the second inning, I’m sure a few people were laughing.”

It was in the second inning when Hurst made his only real mistake of the night, giving up a two-run, two-out single to Cardinal pitcher Omar Olivares on an 0-and-2 pitch.

“I shook it off by the next inning,” Hurst said, “but in between innings was not a pretty sight.”

Hurst’s frustration was eased when the Padres tied the game in the bottom of the second. The score remained that way until the Padres blew the game open in the eighth inning with five runs off three Cardinal relievers.

“I’ve got to say, Bruce did a great job,” said Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn, one of Hurst’s biggest antagonists. “But, hey, if Kangaroo Court were in session, we’d definitely have to ask about that 0-and-2 pitch to the pitcher.”

Hurst laughed that off and joined the throng of friends and family who awaited.

Just who was one of those friends?

None other than Danny Ainge, guard for the Portland Trailblazers, and one of the best basketball players in the world, if you ask Hurst.

Hurst’s reverence for Ainge, of course, has led to plenty of teasing in itself. The day after Portland was eliminated in the playoffs by the Lakers, a certain Padre player who happens to be leading the league in hitting, left two tickets for Ainge, explaining that it only seemed natural since Ainge had so much time off the rest of the summer.

“Bruce didn’t appreciate that one,” Gwynn said, laughing. “He made sure to tell him it was me that did it, too.”

Perhaps this is why Ainge is scheduled to take batting practice with the Padres sometime in the next couple of days. It’ll be Gwynn who’ll be throwing batting practice--kind of a rematch of the days they faced one another on the basketball court when Gwynn played at San Diego State and Ainge at Brigham Young.

“Bruce can’t wait,” Gwynn said.

But if not for the Padres’ rally in the eighth inning, sparked by Bip Roberts’ hit-and-run single that set up the onslaught, Hurst’s teammates might not have been in such a forgiving mood. As well as Hurst was pitching, Olivares was equally dominating through seven innings.

The only hits surrendered by Olivares were the three consecutive singles in the second inning by Fred McGriff, Tim Teufel and Benito Santiago, which tied the game. He faced the next 19 batters without giving up a hit, allowing only two balls out of the infield before leaving the game in the eighth for a pinch-hitter.

“The guy was really dealing,” Gwynn said. “I finally said, ‘Where did he come from?’

“Someone said, ‘We traded him.’

“I said, ‘No, who’d we get for him?’

“They said, ‘Alex Cole.’

“And we traded him too.”

Indeed, Olivares, pitching the longest stint of the season, was traded away Feb. 27, 1990, for Cole and reliever Steve Peters. Cole was traded six months later to Cleveland for backup catcher Tom Lampkin.

But unfortunately for Olivares, he was matched up against Hurst, and when he left the game in the eighth, the Cardinal bullpen disintegrated.

Cris Carpenter (7-2) opened the eighth by allowing a leadoff single to Scott Coolbaugh, who was replaced by pinch-runner Jose Mota. Thomas Howard, pinch-hitting for Hurst, then popped up a bunt attempt for the first out. That brought up Roberts, who was starting in center field, but is expected to be back at second base today. On a hit-and-run, Roberts lined a single to right, advancing Mota to third. And the rout was on.

By the time the inning ended, Tony Fernandez, Gwynn, Teufel and Santiago had all stroked run-scoring singles, and Padre reliever Larry Andersen pitched the ninth, preserving Hurst’s victory.

Certainly, times like this probably leave Cardinal Manager Joe Torre wondering why he left his cozy job in the Angel broadcast booth.

“To tell you the truth,” Torre said, “I only think about broadcasting about once every two weeks, and that usually happens when we leave a guy on third with less than two outs.”

Hurst never even gave them that chance.