Myers Fails, Padres’ Offense Flails in Loss to the Astros : Baseball: Bagwell’s homer in the 10th gives Houston a 4-2 victory.

Padre reliever Randy Myers jerked his head, watched the ball sail 425 feet into the center-field seats and walked slowly off the field Saturday night with his teammates, not bothering to look up again.

Once again, the Padres were left cursing themselves, losing 4-2 in 10 innings to the Houston Astros in front of a crowd of 18,133 at the Astrodome.

Myers (1-1), who allowed Jeff Bagwell’s two-run homer with no outs in the 10th inning, will go down as the goat of the game. The Padres’ $2 million closer has blown two saves in two weeks.

“You just go out with the best you got,” Myers said, “and he got the best of me. What can you do?”

But Myers, who has three saves and a 3.72 ERA in six appearances, hardly is the Padres’ only problem.

The Padres will say they never should have been in that situation in the first place. They are batting .228 for the season, with only three extra-base hits in the past 106 at-bats--those being doubles.

“We’ve got to start hitting,” said Merv Rettenmund, Padre hitting coach. “We can’t keep going like this.”

Although the Padres managed 10 hits Saturday and their top three hitters were on base 10 times, it hardly mattered. The Padres had only one hit in 10 opportunities with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base.

“I know things aren’t going good, but it’s not time to panic,” said Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn, who reached base in all five plate appearances. “But as a club, we’re just not hitting, period. We’re 7-5, and we still haven’t hit.

“So that should be a plus, instead of a minus.”

Still, the Padres are privately concerned, particularly with the hitting of Benito Santiago, Jerald Clark and Darrin Jackson, their No. 5, No. 6, and No. 7 hitters.

Santiago was hitless in five at-bats, including three times with runners in scoring position, and is batting .143 with only one RBI. Clark is in a three-for-28 slump (.107) and is batting .186 for the season with only two RBIs. And Jackson is batting .128 with only two RBIs.

“The way we’re hitting right now,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said, “we can’t afford to make any mistakes.”

The Padres even resorted to pinch-hitting for starter Greg Harris in the sixth inning of a one-run game. Harris, who allowed one run and five hits in five innings, remains without a victory this season.

Still, after squandering so many opportunities, the Padres managed to enter the eighth inning with a 2-1 lead, scoring both of their runs in the seventh on a single by Gary Sheffield and a sacrifice fly by Fred McGriff. The Padres, who had not allowed a run since the first inning turned to Larry Andersen to start the eighth.

The Astros didn’t look pretty doing it, but they managed to tie the game rather quickly. Craig Biggio opened the inning with a broken-bat single up the middle, equaling his career-high with his fourth hit. Steve Finley tried to sacrifice Biggio with a bunt. Instead, he popped the ball into the air between the mound and home plate.

Andersen ran to the ball, appeared to make a shoestring catch, but fell, and the ball skidded off his glove.

“I really thought I had it,” Andersen said. “I thought I was going to be able to catch the ball, and maybe have a chance for two. When it bounced off my glove, it was a total scramble.”

Bagwell, acquired by the Astros two years ago when they traded Andersen to the Boston Red Sox for him, was due up next. Riddoch decided not to waste time. He went with Myers, his bullpen ace.

“You’ve got to go with him,” Riddoch said. “He’s your guy.”

Myers struck out Bagwell, but he wasn’t so fortunate with Chris Jones, Myers’ former teammate from Cincinnati. Although Jones flailed miserably at a first-pitch fastball, Myers tried a slider with the second pitch. Jones hit it off the end of his bat into left field, tying the game.

Myers was able to avoid further damage when he struck out Pete Incaviglia and induced a fly ball to right by pinch-hitter Scott Servais, ending the inning.

Bagwell, however, got his second opportunity in the 10th inning. Myers opened the inning by walking Finley on five pitches. Riddoch had Rich Rodriguez warming up in the bullpen, but decided to stick with Myers for at least one more batter.

Myers got ahead of Bagwell with a 1-and-2 count, but missed on the next two pitches. Bagwell guessed fastball. Myers threw a fastball.

The ball went a long way.

“When a guy throws that hard,” said Bagwell, the 1991 Rookie of the Year, “you don’t have to swing that hard to hit it out of the park.”

The defeat was the third in a row for the Padres, and lifted the Astros (6-5) above .500 for the first time since April 17, 1991. The Padres, who struck out 11 times, also left the game with much more than a bruised ego.

Padre second baseman Kurt Stillwell and shortstop Tony Fernandez each were involved in separate collisions. Stillwell was forced leave the game in the fourth inning with a bruise on his left lower leg when he collided with Bagwell, and Astro third baseman Ken Caminiti left with a mild separation of the right shoulder when he crashed into Fernandez. Stillwell is expected to miss today’s game, and return Monday. Caminiti is expected to be placed on the disabled list.

Stillwell’s injury occurred in the first inning after the Astros had gone ahead 1-0 on Luis Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly. Pete Incaviglia came to the plate with runners on first and second, and the opportunity to break the game open. He hit a grounder to Fernandez, who flipped to Stillwell for one out, and as Stillwell threw to first for the double play, Bagwell barreled into him.

Stillwell laid on the turf for several minutes before finally being escorted to the bench. He remained in the game, but after hitting a single in the fourth, his leg started to stiffen and was removed from the game.

The worst injury, however, occurred in the third inning when Fernandez was on second, and attempted to steal on starter Darryl Kile’s high leg kick. Fernandez slid hard into Caminiti at third, and as Caminiti tagged Fernandez, he flipped and fell on his right shoulder.

The most frustrating aspect of the injury? Fernandez was safe anyway because a balk had been was called.

“Strange game, wasn’t it?” Riddoch muttered. “But I guess it always is here.”