Teufel’s Hit Helps Padres Avert Three-Game Sweep : Baseball: Eighth-inning rally leads to 6-5 victory over Pirates, ending home stand on positive note.

Had he been in dugout, Padre Manager Greg Riddoch would have loved it.

Padre second baseman Tim Teufel knocked a two-out, bases-loaded single through the Pittsburgh infield in the eighth inning Wednesday night to score two runs and give the Padres a much-needed victory, 6-5, in front of 27,272 in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

But Riddoch wasn’t in the dugout. He had been ejected in the top half of the eighth inning of a game featuring more twists than an episode of Columbo.

Afterward, he stood near the doorway of the Padre clubhouse in a T-shirt and his baseball underwear, pumping hands as the Padres filed by.

Nice job, he kept repeating. Atta baby. Way to go.

The Padres avoided a sweep by Pittsburgh and ended a rocky home stand on a high note. Teufel went two for four with three RBIs.

And the home stand ended 4-5. For a night, they were able to forget their problems and smile. The Pirates might lead the National League in one-run games with an 11-6 mark, but, believe it or not, the Padres are second at 9-5.

“Back and forth, back and forth,” Riddoch said. “You wouldn’t know that that team is (16) games over .500 and we were .500, would you?

“Win or lose, you’ve got to feel great about playing the Pirates the way we played them. (Pittsburgh Manager Jim) Leyland told me today he thought we were the best team he played. I asked him if he checked the records.”

The Padres successfully exected a suicide squeeze in the seventh. Reliever Larry Andersen (2-0) allowed two hits and two runs in two innings, but after he walked Orlando Merced to lead off the ninth, he shut down the Pirates.

“We had a shot,” Leyland said. “We had the tying run out there again. The big thing was, we couldn’t hold them when we had to, but you can’t do that every night.”

Twice the Padres blew leads. Twice they came back. Pittsburgh outfielder Barry Bonds had a night that should have subdued the Padres--he knocked in three runs and scored another.

And it was because of Bonds that Riddoch spent the last inning in the clubhouse. With the Pirates trailing, 4-3, in the eighth and Bonds on first, Mitch Webster drilled a ball into right field. Bonds never stopped as he rounded third.

Gwynn got the ball, threw to Teufel, the cut-off man, and Teufel wheeled and threw home.

Catcher Benito Santiago got the ball in front of the plate and dove. Bonds, still on his feet, lifted his left leg and stepped over Santiago’s glove. Bonds, past the plate, fell. But as he was falling, he plopped his hand onto the plate, still apparently avoiding Santiago.

Game tied, 4-4. And Riddoch received his first ejection of the season, and the second of his major league managerial career.

“I don’t know how to avoid tags,” Bonds said. “That was just a freak accident. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I just knew I was out, man. Especially when I had seven steps to go.

“I’m just glad the throw made Benito off-balance. It gave me more of a chance to touch the plate.”

Webster eventually scored, giving Pittsburgh a 5-4 lead.

Then came the ninth, Pittsburgh reliever Vicente Palacios on the mound, and suddenly the bases were loaded. After Santiago struck out, up stepped Teufel.

He took a strike. He fouled a pitch into the stands down the first base line. He watched a ball sail by. He fouled off two more pitches.

Finally, he poked a single through the middle of the infield, a ball that bounced off the glove of a diving second baseman Jose Lind. The ball rolled into short center. Tony Fernandez and Gwynn scored.

Padres win.

“This game proves time and again that you need some breaks,” Teufel said. “The ball eluded Lind by just a little bit.

“The pitch was up. It was a complete battle. I thought I popped it up. I hit it on the end of the bat.”

It was the first loss for the Pirate bullpen since April 15.

The Padres started the night by doing the unusual: For the first time since June 8--a stretch of 11 games--they scored in the first inning.

After Fernandez singled and Gwynn reached first on a fielder’s choice, Jerald Clark deposited a 1-0 pitch from Zane Smith over the left-field fence to give the Padres a 2-0 lead. It was Clark’s fifth homer of the season, and second in four days.

Perhaps not knowing how to act with an early lead, the Padres immediately gave it up. Bobby Bonilla led off the Pittsburgh second with a single to right, and Bonds followed with a homer to left, making it 2-2.

Padre starter Andy Benes got into further trouble in the second when he walked Mike LaValliere and yielded a single to Lind. Smith bunted them to second and third, but Benes induced Orlando Merced to ground to first to end the inning.

But Pittsburgh got another run in the fifth. With one out, Gary Varsho sliced a Benes pitch down the right-field line. The ball bounced behind the temporary fence, and it was called a ground-rule double.

Up stepped Bonilla, who singled to left, moving Varsho to third. Varsho then scored on Bonds’ sacrifice fly to center.

But the Padres came back in the seventh, when Santiago singled and Teufel doubled him home. Teufel went to third on Scott Coolbaugh’s sacrifice bunt, which brought up Bip Roberts, batting for Benes.

Teufel was running with the pitch, and Roberts pushed a perfect bunt toward first base. Teufel easily scored, putting the Padres ahead, 4-3.

The Padres have successfully converted three of four suicide squeezes this season, after going five for five in spring training. They attempted only one all last season.

It was another lead that didn’t last long, though.

The Pirates came right back in the eighth with two more runs.

Then came the Padre eighth, and yet another reprieve.