Walters Carries Padres : Baseball: Catcher has homer and three RBIs to help Padres rally from four-run deficit and beat Houston, 5-4.

If this is a dream, Padre catcher Dan Walters asks that he not be awakened.

Walters, who has been in a daze for the last 10 days since being called up to the major leagues, found himself Tuesday night trying to explain what it felt like to be a hero.

He had a home run, a triple and three RBIs, leading the Padres to a dramatic 5-4 comeback victory over the Houston Astros at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“It was a thrill, no doubt about it,” said Walters, a product of Santana High in Santee. “I’m just trying to fill in here for two to three weeks while Benito (Santiago) is out, and hope to fill in admirably.

“The best thing that could happen is when Benito comes back, people will say, ‘Thanks for your help. You kept us in there.’ ”

While Santiago is expected to be on the disabled list until July 1, Walters is being asked to carry the load. He might not be an All-Star or have any Gold Glove awards in his trophy case, but he has shown so far that he can play in the big leagues.

“He’s doing a great job for us,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said. “I’m not saying we won’t miss Benny, but maybe not as bad as people think.”

The Padres, who trailed 4-0 in the fourth inning, won the game with Walters’ heroics in the eighth inning. It might not have looked pretty, but it was the most beautiful RBI of Walters’ six-game-old major-league career.

The bases were loaded with one out in the eighth inning when Walters came to the plate. He had hit his first big-league homer in the fifth inning. He had hit his first major-league triple--and only the third of his professional career--in the seventh inning.

Now he was being asked to come through one more time.

He got goosebumps walking to the plate as the crowd of 15,749 rose to give him a standing ovation. It was a strange sight, considering the home crowds have a habit of booing Padre catchers.

Walters, admittedly anxious, swung and missed badly on the first pitch. He took the next pitch for a ball and then fouled off the third pitch.

He was behind in the count, 1-and-2, and Astro reliever Joe Boever was looking for a strikeout.

Walters swung and hit a slow roller to third baseman Ken Caminiti. He fielded it cleanly, but had trouble getting the ball out of his glove before flipping it to second baseman Craig Biggio.

By the time Biggio got the ball, he was trying to avoid the roll-block of Oscar Azocar, and threw off-balance to first.

The ball skipped in the dirt. Walters slid head-first. First baseman Jeff Bagwell scooped the ball.

And it dropped to the ground. Safe.

Gary Sheffield, watching the play as he crossed home plate, jubilantly clapped his hands, and Walters stood at first listening to the adulation from fans.

Walters’ heroics allowed the Padres (31-27) to overcome the rough outing of emergency starter Gene Harris, who made his first start since 1989. He lasted only 3 2/3 innings, yielding six hits and four runs.

Yet, the Padre bullpen corps never allowed the Astros to break the game open. Rich Rodriguez, Jose Melendez and Pat Clements (2-0) pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings, and Mike Maddux came on the ninth to record his first save since Sept. 28.

It was the first time the Padres have used a reliever other than Randy Myers (13 saves, 6.43 ERA) this season, but it probably won’t be the last.

“He’s (Maddux) an experienced guy with good stuff,” Riddoch said. “Tomorrow night it might be Myers. Who knows?”

Was Myers surprised?

“No, not at all,” Myers said.

Was he disappointed?

“Not at all. We won, that’s the name of the game,” he said.

Is he content with this bullpen by committee?

“I’m content with winning, whatever it takes,” he said. “I was still up in case something happened.”

It appeared for the longest time that there would be no need for a Padre closer in this game. Although Harris allowed only one ball out of the infield the first three innings, yielding an unearned run in the first, he couldn’t escape the fourth.

He gave up three hits in the inning, the crunching blow a two-out, two-run single by Astro starter Jimmy Jones.

Jones, who owned a career .169 batting average with eight RBIs entering the game, looked like he would need no further help. He allowed a solo homer to Fred McGriff in the bottom of the fourth and Walters’ homer in the fifth, but Jones was still cruising.

Then came the seventh.

Darrin Jackson led off with a soft bouncer out of the reach of Jones. Bagwell scrambled to make the play, but his throw to first missed beating Jackson to the bag.

“I still thought he was out,” Jones said.

Walters, who was traded to San Diego in the winter of 1988 just as Jones was leaving, stepped up and hit a liner to right field. Chris Jones, inserted into the game at the start of the inning as a defensive replacement for Eric Anthony, was unsure how to play the ball.

He started running toward the ball, stopped, started and stopped. The ball hit in front of him and skipped away. The next thing anyone knew, Jackson was scoring and Walters was diving head-first into third.

It was generously ruled a triple.

Walters had only two triples in his entire minor-league career, spanning 2,284 at-bats.

“I was looking three,” Walters said, “but I was pretty surprised when I saw Bruce (Kimm) waving me around second. I don’t know where the ball went.”

Moments later, the game was tied when Kurt Stillwell singled to right-center, scoring Walters for a 4-4 tie.

“If the ball doesn’t take a funny hop, none of that stuff happens,” Jones said. “It was a weird inning for me because I felt I was in command.

“It was just their night, especially Walters’.”