Bones Sticks St. Louis With Another Defeat : Baseball: Rookie right-hander leads Padres to 6-2 victory, their seventh triumph in a row over the Cardinals.

It might be too late, but the Padres are making a statement and perhaps providing a preview of next year.

Behind the strong pitching of rookie Ricky Bones and a three-home-run attack, the Padres beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2, Friday to win their fourth consecutive game in front of 14,791 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

In winning their 10th in the past 14, the Padres finally evened their record at 68-68.

They did it with a combination of power, timely hitting and continued fine pitching--the formula that has carried the Padres on this home stand.

“They don’t surprise me with anything they do. That’s been their story--they just keep playing,” Padres Manager Greg Riddoch said. “The heroes don’t seem to be household names . . . veterans, not-so-veterans, rookies.”

Friday’s heroes included Bones, 22, and recently acquired third baseman Jack Howell, who hit one of three Padre home runs and knocked in three runs.

In his sixth major league start, Bones evened his record at 3-3, won his second in a row and held the Cardinals to five hits and a walk in seven innings.

The victory got the Padres back to the .500 mark for the first time since June 29. If it’s not exactly the mark of excellence, consider that they gained a half-game on the first-place Dodgers, pulling to within 7 1/2 games of the lead in the National League West and solidifying their hold on third place. At this point last season, the Padres were 60-74.

“We’re getting hits at the right time and our pitching is doing the job; both have come together,” catcher Benito Santiago said. “We’re doing those little things that win games. Bones threw good--he has a great arm. I think he can do better. When he gets a little experience--which he’s gonna get this month--his confidence is gonna go up. Next year he’s gonna be getter.”

Bones threw only 81 pitches and was consistently ahead of the Cardinal hitters, a quality that had evaded him in recent starts.

“I concentrated on throwing a lot of strikes, especially with that type of team,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of faster runners and you have to keep them off base. I learned a lot watching Greg Harris (Thursday in a 3-1 victory).”

The Padres also got good news on the medical front Friday: Tony Gwynn was back in uniform. The All-Star outfielder was told he doesn’t have serious cartilage damage in his sore left knee, and if he needs surgery, it won’t be performed until the season is over. Gwynn hopes to be in the lineup tonight and was available to pinch-hit Friday, though he wasn’t needed.

Bones got all the offense he needed in the fourth and fifth innings against Bob Tewksbury (9-10).

The Padres stranded their leadoff man at third in the first inning, and the Cardinal right-hander entered the fourth with a one-hitter. But with one out, Darrin Jackson drove his 16th home run of the season over the left-field fence, breaking a scoreless tie.

Jackson’s home run total has come in about 250 at-bats, a ratio of a homer nearly every 16 at-bats.

The Padres added three runs the next inning, two of them aided by Ozzie Smith’s eighth error of the season. Craig Shipley got the rally started with a one-out single, was sacrificed to second and scored on Tony Fernandez’s single.

Fernandez then appeared to be caught stealing--which would have been the third out--but Smith dropped the throw, and Fernandez was on second when Howell sent a Tewksbury pitch into the right-field seats, his fifth homer since joining the Padres.

The Padres got another run in the seventh on doubles by Jerald Clark and Howell. Thomas Howard added the Padres’ third homer of the night, a bases-empty shot to center, off rookie Mark Clark in the eighth.

The Cardinals averted a shutout in the ninth, scoring two unearned runs off Craig Lefferts when right fielder Jim Vatcher booted a ball for a two-base error.

The Padres’ winning streak is their longest since the first week of June. Riddoch pointed out that the Padres have had trouble sustaining streaks because the No. 4 and 5 pitchers have been a combined 2-14.

“You look at some of the other teams, teams like the Dodgers, and they’ve lost eight or 10 games in a row,” Riddoch said. “We haven’t done that but it’s hard to put a streak together when your (No.) 4 and 5 (pitchers) are 2-14. Tonight it was just a rookie, but he’s got one of the better arms on our staff. We get good pitching, we’ve got a chance for a streak.”

The loss dropped the Cardinals 10 games behind Pittsburgh in the East, and the Padres have been among their major tormentors. Friday’s game gave the Padres a 8-3 season record and seven consecutive victories against the Cardinals.