Padres Top Braves, End Skid : Baseball: Eiland leaves after back injury flares up.

Their five-game losing streak having disappeared somewhere over the fence along with baseballs from Darrin Jackson and Fred McGriff Tuesday night, the Padres now need to accomplish something else:

Get some kind of production from their fourth and fifth starting pitchers.

In a game in which both starting pitchers had to leave early with injuries, the Padres collected 11 hits from seven different batters and held on to defeat Atlanta, 4-2, in front of 26,468 in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Padre starter Dave Eiland faced only five batters before leaving with muscle spasms in his back. It is a re-occurrence of the injury which limited him to four innings in his first start on April 10. Eiland will be examined this morning.

And Atlanta starter Mike Bielecki (1-2) left for the cover of the Brave clubhouse after taking a line drive from Tony Gwynn on his left knee in the fifth.

For Atlanta, maybe, it was a fluke. For the Padres, it has become routine.

“The hard part (about Eiland’s injury) is that Lefty (Craig Lefferts) got hit so hard Monday night,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said. “That’s two guys in a row (who left early). We can’t go through this very long.”

The victory allowed the Padres to avoid dropping their sixth consecutive game, which would have been their longest losing streak since they lost eight in a row Sept. 20-26, 1990.

But if their fourth and fifth starters don’t produce, their bullpen is going to be burned out by Mother’s Day.

Believe it or not, three relievers--Jose Melendez, Rich Rodriguez, and, amazingly, Randy Myers, the Padre closer --have already pitched more innings than either of the Padres’ fourth or fifth starters.

In three starts, Lefferts, the Padres’ fourth starter, has worked 11 1/3 innings and Eiland, the fifth starter, has worked only 10 2/3.

Melendez is up to 14 innings and Rodriguez is at 12 2/3. And, after pitching two innings and earning his fourth save Tuesday, Myers has worked 11 2/3 innings.

How bad has it been?

In three starts, Eiland has yet to make it past the fifth inning.

Lefferts, meanwhile, is 1-2 with a 7.15 earned-run average in three starts. He didn’t make it out of the first inning in the Padres’ home opener and then left after four innings Monday.

Already this week, the Padres had to use five pitchers on Monday and four more on Tuesday.

Sure, McGriff hit his first homer since April 10 and his first in 36 at bats. Yes, Jackson had a homer and a single. And don’t forget, Gary Sheffield doubled twice.

But this victory was obscured by fears.

“We’ve hit the ball since we’ve been home,” Gwynn said. “You hope it’s a good sign, but it’s a little bit worrisome that Lefty got hit hard and Eiland got injured for the second start at home.

“That puts a strain on your bullpen, but that’s what a team is all about. People stepping up.”

Eiland said he felt stiff while warming up before the game and that, while it wasn’t as sharp a pain as the first time he hurt it, it was nagging enough that he finally decided it wouldn’t go away.

“I thought I could work through it,” said Eiland, who added that he hadn’t previously had a back problem. “I thought it would loosen up. But I felt it on every pitch. I was afraid to let it go. It was like, ‘I can’t fool with this anymore.’ ”

He first suffered the injury on April 10, in his first start, and left after four innings. He said he was pain-free April 16 in San Francisco (5 1/3 innings, eight hits, four runs) and also during his off-day workout in Houston.

“Who knows,” he said. “Maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow and never have this problem again.”

Meanwhile, the Padres will huddle to decide how to manage their pitching staff. They have an off day Thursday, which will allow arms to rest and would allow the Padres to skip Eiland’s next start, if need be.

Rodriguez (1-1), who earned the victory despite allowing two runs and three hits in 2 2/3 innings, is turning into the Padres’ pseudo starter. He replaced Eiland in the second; earlier this spring he replaced Lefferts in the first.

Melendez followed Rodriguez with three shutout innings and Myers retired all six batters he faced.

Although Melendez struck out four of 10 batters and allowed only one hit, Riddoch said he does not want to move Melendez into the starting rotation.

“Would you rather have him every day or once every five days?” Riddoch asked.

The Padre pitching committee also combined to stop Deion Sanders’ hitting streak at 14 games.