Myers’ Failure Dims Rookie’s Star : Padres: Seminara pitches 6 1/3 shutout innings but is denied a victory when reliever yields game-tying homer to Chicago’s Dawson. Cubs win in 13th, 3-2.

Padre rookie pitcher Frank Seminara fidgeted on the bench Tuesday afternoon, three outs away from winning his major league debut.

His father sat behind the dugout at Wrigley Field and yelled, his mother clutched her rosary beads, and the rest of the Seminara party of 11 from Brooklyn, N.Y., rooted. Seminara simply focused on the baseball, which he wanted as a memento.

But in one cruel moment, the ball Seminara wanted as a trophy landed in the first row of the bleachers. What loomed as a glorious moment in the Padres’ season turned into a bitter defeat to the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 in 13 innings.

There was no victory for Seminara, who allowed only three hits in 6 1/3 innings in his first start since he was called up from triple-A Las Vegas. There was no victory for the Padres, who owned a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning. There was no save for Randy Myers.

There was only exasperation.

In a game that left the Padres pondering a radical change in their bullpen, Myers blew his third save in the last 10 days, this time by allowing a two-run homer to Andre Dawson with none out in the ninth.

It almost was immaterial that the Padres lost the game four innings later when Mark Grace hit a two-out single to right field off reliever Pat Clements, making a loser out of reliever Gene Harris. The ninth inning hurt more.

Myers, who has 13 saves this season but has blown four save opportunities and a four-run lead that didn’t qualify as a save situation, has a 6.00 ERA. He has allowed 46 baserunners in only 27 innings.

Will he continue to be the closer, or will the Padres go to a bullpen by committee?

“I don’t know, I just don’t know,” Manager Greg Riddoch said.

On the same day he was announced as winner of the Rolaids Relief Man of the month for May, Myers came into the game to start the ninth. Seminara had shut down the Cubs for 6 1/3 innings until he was forced to leave after being hit in the right elbow by a Grace line drive. Mike Maddux entered the game in relief, and pitched nearly a flawless 1 2/3 innings.

Considering Maddux was on the disabled list earlier this season with elbow problems and has pitched 2 2/3 innings only once this season, Riddoch went to Myers. He’s the man the Padres acquired in the off-season for Bip Roberts, and, besides, Myers had struck out the side in his last outing.

This time, Myers walked leadoff hitter Ryne Sandberg on four pitches. He fell behind Dawson, 2-and-1. He came in with another fastball.

Dawson drilled it into the first row of the bleacher seats. The crowd of 19,176 went bonkers. They celebrated by throwing apples, oranges, batteries and cans onto the field.

Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn had to run toward the dugout to avoid being hit by the celebratory debris.

“I’m not going to stand out there and get pounded,” Gwynn said. “I guess they were just so happy Dawson hit a homer, but security didn’t do squat.

“But then, I guess that’s trivial after getting your (butt) beat.”

Myers, who narrowly avoided losing the game in the ninth, had no answers. He said he was trying to pitch inside to Sandberg, instead of away. And he said Dawson’s homer simply came on a pitch left out over the plate.

Did he feel particularly upset since he ruined Seminara’s debut?

“No, not really,” Myers said, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s just a tough loss for the team, that’s all.”

The defeat nearly devastated the Padres’ spirits. It was the first time in 21 games that they lost when leading after the sixth inning. The only consolation was that the Padres might have found a fifth starter.

Seminara, 25, was brilliant in his performance. He made it almost implausible to believe the Padres actually were worried about his nervousness.

Instead of pacing in the clubhouse before the game, Seminara was scanning the stands to see if his 11 friends and family members arrived safely for the game. Instead of studying pitching charts of the Cubs, Seminara was roaming the outfield shagging fly balls.

He cruised through the first three innings without allowing a hit. He yielded only four baserunners through the first five innings. He struck out Sandberg in one inning and induced a harmless ground ball by Dawson in the next. He recorded 14 ground-ball outs and three strikeouts and only once allowed a baserunner to reach third.

“It was everything I dreamed it would be,” said Seminara, who was 5-2 with a 3.59 ERA at Las Vegas. “I never doubted myself, I just had to adjust to the environment. I just stayed with what got me here--sliders and fastballs.

“Except Grace, that was a change-up.”

Grace’s line drive caromed off Seminara’s elbow in the seventh. Seminara grabbed his elbow in pain while Riddoch and the trainers ran onto the field. Seminara immediately bent the elbow, making sure it wasn’t broken, and walked off the field.

“That’s the first time that happened,” said Seminara, who falls sharply off the mound in his delivery. “It usually hits off my side or (backside). My mom probably had a heart attack over that one.

“I knew I was all right, it was just the initial shock. It was scary. I had my dad come into the clubhouse so he could tell the family I was all right.”

Riddoch said there would be more opportunities for Seminara. His predecessors in the No. 5 starter’s role went 0-5 with a 7.71 ERA.

“You saw what happens when Frank throws his game,” said rookie catcher Dan Walters, “and that was him today. He didn’t vary from it one bit. You’re going to see a lot of broken bats and ground balls when he pitches.”

Said Seminara: “I had a great time, and I don’t have any intention of ever going back (to the minors). I didn’t come up here just to pitch one game and go back. I’m here to contribute.

“I’m staying.”