Padres Turn Topsy-Turvy, Allow Dodgers to End Skid : Baseball: Riddoch out with flu, Lasorda ejected from 4-2 Padre defeat.

Not that things were a little off-kilter Monday night at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, but . . .

The Dodgers ended a drought of 28 consecutive scoreless innings and, while they were at it, snapped a 10-game losing streak by defeating the Padres, 4-2.

The 28 consecutive scoreless innings added up to the fourth-longest streak in Los Angeles Dodger history.

But don’t ask the managers for details.

Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda was ejected in the sixth inning for arguing balls and strikes, and Padre Manager Greg Riddoch went home just before game time with an inner-ear infection. Padre coach Jimmy Snyder managed the game.

Unusual?

Not more than five minutes after Lasorda’s ejection, the game was briefly delayed again when a cat appeared on the field. The thing scrambled around in front of the Padre dugout for a few minutes--looking like a Dodger fielder circling under a fly ball--before finally high-tailing it into the stands.

Considering the way the Padres and Dodgers have been performing lately, the cat (not in a hat) that couldn’t bear to watch might have been the smartest critter in the stadium.

The Padres lost their third in a row, this one coming in front of 21,965. The Dodgers, meanwhile, are 1-9 on their current trip.

Riddoch, it turns out, came down with a case of the flu over the weekend in San Francisco and spent most of the afternoon preceding Monday’s game lying down on a couch in his office, with the lights off and door closed, before going home.

“Just before the game, he was having a tough time,” Snyder said. “He was getting dizzy and didn’t feel too stable when he stood up. The doctor thinks he will be back (today).”

Riddoch’s darkened office was a sign of things to come. The Padres blew a chance to pick up a game on first-place Cincinnati, which lost to Houston earlier in the day.

The Padres let a 2-0 lead slip through their grasp and watched the Dodgers score the two winning runs in the ninth, mainly because the Padres violated a baseball principle by letting the Dodgers’ big guy beat them.

Jose Melendez (5-5) replaced starter Andy Benes in the ninth and immediately gave up a double to Stan Javier.

Brett Butler followed with a bunt, which Melendez fielded and threw to third. Too late--Javier was safe.

Mike Sharperson followed with a ground ball to shortstop Tony Fernandez, who trapped Javier in a rundown between home and third.

With runners on second and third, the Padres decided to walk Lenny Harris, loading the bases for a potential inning-ending double play, and pitch to Eric Davis.

Eric Davis?

“Harris is their hottest hitter right now,” Snyder explained. “And (by bypassing Harris to get to Davis) it was right-hander vs. right-hander.

“With Melendez, I figured with his breaking ball he might be able to get a ground ball.”

What Melendez got was a ground ball, all right--a sharp grounder through the hole and into right field. Butler and Sharperson scored.

Sure, Harris was batting .345 in his past nine starts, but why not bring left-handed Randy Myers in to face the left-handed Harris?

“It was a thought,” Snyder said. “We just ended up staying with Melendez and setting up the force play at the plate.”

Melendez, who had not lost a game in relief since last season, has now lost two in two days. He gave up a 11th-inning run to the Giants Sunday in a 1-0 loss.

The amazing thing, though, was that the Dodgers scored at all.

Their first run since Friday night came at 8:22 p.m. Monday.

The run--Jose Offerman scored from second on Butler’s single up the middle in the fifth--was their first in a span of more than 36 hours.

It was Butler’s first RBI since June 7 against Cincinnati and Offerman’s first run scored since June 7 against Cincinnati. In one of the more unusual coincidences of the season, what happened then was what happened Monday: Offerman scored on Butler’s fifth-inning single.

Benes, meanwhile, pitched eight strong innings, allowing only two runs on nine hits. He struck out six. It was a long night for Benes--he threw 130 pitches.

With Greg Harris’ broken finger, the Padres have become even more dependent on Benes to give them consistent, quality outings. Benes has run hot and cold this season.

After allowing only one run in his first three starts, he allowed 18 while losing three in a row. Then, he allowed only four runs while winning three in a row, but allowed 16 in his four starts prior to Wednesday’s shutout in Houston.

For a while, it looked as if Benes would win his seventh game.

Tony Gwynn put the Padres in front early by continuing his home run tear.

This one came in the first inning, on a 0-and-1 pitch from Ojeda. Nobody was on base, and it was Gwynn’s sixth of the season.

The All-Star Game has yet to arrive and Gwynn is already having his best home-run year since 1988, when he had seven. In each of the past three seasons, Gwynn has had four.

The Padres made it 2-0 in the fourth when substitute first baseman Tim Teufel’s sharp double to left allowed Darrin Jackson to score from second.

The Dodgers, though, scored in the fifth and then added another in the seventh, when Offerman scored on a single by Sharperson.

Roger McDowell (4-6) got the victory in relief for Los Angeles. Ojeda, Jay Howell and McDowell limited the Padres to five hits.

What kind of week has it been for the Padres?

One day after Harris fractured his finger attempting to bunt, Benes, in the fifth inning, bunted into a double play.

And remember--it was only Monday. The week is still young.