Good Things Add Up to Padre Victory

Local heroes had a more pleasant afternoon on dry land than they did on the ocean Wednesday.

Manager Greg Riddoch would have run out of fingers easy and toes maybe trying to count the ways good things happened for his Padres. Poor Dennis Conner did not have that kind of day.

Riddoch could begin by pointing to the five-run first inning, but that’s getting waaaaay ahead of the story.

The Dollar Days part of the batting order--hitters five through eight batting a buck something--came up with five hits, including home runs by Boonito Santiago and Jerald Clark, and five runs batted in.

Fred McGriff drove in three runs in the first two innings.

Tony Gwynn had three hits, but what’s new?

Gary Sheffield had three hits, and that’s beginning to sound familiar too.

And Santiago merits mention again for two RBIs, one of them coming when he patiently out-lasted Ben Rivera for a sixth-inning walk with the bases loaded. Later that inning, hustling like ill-mannered fans and gibberish-show hosts claim he doesn’t, he tagged up and went to second on a fly out to center field.

The total offensive line score was nine runs and 15 hits.

Final score: Padres 9, Atlanta 4.

But all of that probably wasn’t the nicest thing that happened.

Bruce Hurst won a game.

That too should come under the heading of . . . what’s new?

But it doesn’t.

Hurst had not won since Aug. 28. That must seem like forever to a staff’s No. 1 starter, the ace, the opening-day starter.

“Well,” Hurst mused, “I didn’t have many chances in October, November, December, January and February. And I missed three starts in September because my elbow was a little sore.”

Still . . .

“It’s nice,” he said. “It’s been awhile, at least that’s what I read. It’s nice to get it. Now I want to add to it.”

That’s where those first inning runs, five of them, come into play.

Victories are funny. Andy Benes threw nine shutout innings Sunday and did not get the decision, because the Padres scored nothing on his behalf. Hurst walks out there in the second inning with a 5-1 lead.

“Go figure, huh?” Hurst said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Benes, sitting nearby, laughed.

“We don’t care who’s pitching when we get runs,” he said.

Wins can be elusive.

Hurst pitched seven innings in each of his first two starts and the Padres won both games, but all he got was the ND . . . no decision. He gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings his third start, but the Padres scored only one and he lost to Houston.

When he beat St. Louis last Aug. 28, it was his 15th win of the season. He had not won a game since . . . until Wednesday.

“I don’t get frustrated by wins and losses,” he said. “Wins and losses are variable. You have to give credit to the other guy. The last game I pitched in Houston, Pete Harnisch pitched a great game. The key is that I haven’t pitched us out of games. You have a chance to win if you keep it close.”

Hurst’s chore Wednesday was different. He didn’t want this one to get close. The Padres built the lead to 5-1 and 6-1 and 7-2 and 9-2. You want to lock these up and put them away. He did, with a little bit of help from Jeremy Hernandez in the last couple of innings.

“It’s a big difference,” he said, “having five runs to work with. But runs are precious. You don’t want to give up a lead like that.”

In truth, it is probably more difficult to bear down with a comfortable lead.

Yet there was Hurst, keeping the Braves in such total control that they hit only three balls out of the infield through six innings. Two were fly-ball outs by Jeff Blauser and the third was a ground single by Tom Glavine, who hit much better than he pitched.

“I’m not a guy who can pitch up in the strike zone very effectively,” he said. “Dobber (former pitching coach Pat Dobson) always said to throw balls that are conducive to getting ground balls.”

Ground balls do not generally land on the other side of fences. They do not rocket through the outfield alleys for extra-base hits. More often than not, they are turned into outs . . . sometimes two.

When the Braves were not beating the ball into the grass, they were missing it altogether. Hurst struck out eight, the last victim being Lonnie Smith. Because it was Smith’s third such experience of the game, he argued with some vehemence and was dispatched by the umpires to the safety of an early shower. No one has ever struck out or grounded out from there.

Bruce Hurst was not perfect, of course. He came to this contest with a batting average of .400 and left with three strikeouts and a weak tap to short for a force play. He contributed nothing to this marvelous offensive output.

That was fine.

He did his job, just like he always does.

This time he was rewarded.

Finally.