Padres See a Spark in Clark : Baseball: Outfielder, filling in for Gwynn, homers and drive in three runs to help Padres beat Montreal, 6-4.

Just when you thought you had seen the last of Jerald Clark, there was his name Friday afternoon, right there on the Padre lineup card.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out why. Tony Gwynn, who had strained his back the day before, could hardly walk across the clubhouse, much less patrol right field.

So in a year featuring several twists and turns--mostly Padre fingers and backs--Clark proved Friday night that there still might be some pop left in his bat.

Clark, subbing for Gwynn in right field, homered in the second inning, collected three RBIs and made an impressive fifth-inning catch to help the Padres defeat Montreal, 6-4, in front of 24,476 in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

And proving that the Padres can receive big things from more than one unexpected source, right-hander Frank Seminara, who started the season at triple-A Las Vegas, pitched six strong innings to win his fourth in a row.

But this night belonged to Clark, who had gone 52 games and 158 at-bats between home runs. His last one came on April 27.

“Yeah, it’s been a long time,” Clark said. “I don’t even think about (the homerless streak). It was really trying for me. I’m going to try to forget it and concentrate on the good things that happened tonight.

“That was some kind of feeling. It was a feeling I had forgotten.”

It certainly was unexpected from a guy who has batted less than .200 for most of the season, has lost his left-field job and was nearly traded to Boston last week.

Clark’s homer, a two-run blast, came in the second. He added an eighth-inning single for his third RBI. In between, he robbed Archi Cianfrocco of a sure double to lead off the fifth by making a sprinting, lunging, veering-to-his-right catch.

The Padres had learned earlier that they probably will be without Gwynn for the weekend.

“Tony is a very important person to have in there,” Clark said. “You just go out and try to do your part. If you try to do more than you’re capable of, that’s what gets you in trouble.

“You just have to do your job and hope for the best.”

That’s the attitude the Padres have had to take for the past month. They have not had Gwynn, Gary Sheffield, Fred McGriff and Benito Santiago in the lineup together since May 30. Santiago broke his finger in St. Louis that day and has missed 31 games.

And lately, things have gotten even worse. Of their past 14 games, Gwynn, Sheffield and McGriff--the Padres’ three remaining big sticks--have been in the lineup together for only three. And that includes the game on June 28, when Sheffield left in the third inning with a sprained thumb, and the game on July 2, when Gwynn left after the third with a strained back.

During this 14-game stretch, though, the Padres are 8-6 and have actually gained a game on first-place Cincinnati. They are now 4 1/2 games out, in third place.

Bu Gwynn’s return has not yet been penciled in.

“We played without Freddie for seven games and held our own,” Gwynn said. “Hopefully, they can do the same without me for a few days.

“I can’t tell you when I’ll be back because I really don’t know.”

Said Manager Greg Riddoch: “Seems like we just can’t put a whole crew in there.”

He stopped short of calling the Padres overachievers.

“I think they’ve gotten the most mileage out of what they’ve got,” he said.

What they had Friday, aside from Clark, McGriff (two-run homer) and Sheffield (bases-empty homer), was Seminara, a brash kid (25) from Brooklyn who carries himself as if he has been in the game at least as long as, say, Nolan Ryan.

“I felt real good,” Seminara said. “I’m always feeling good out there.”

The Padres acquired Seminara in the Rule V draft during the 1990 winter meetings from the Yankees. He spent last season with double-A Wichita before making a couple of jumps--to triple-A Las Vegas before San Diego--this season.

He lasted six innings, mostly baffling the Expos. He departed having allowed a run on four hits--and only one harmless single and a walk in his first four innings. Spike Owen’s fifth-inning single off Seminara’s bare hand may have hastened the pitcher’s departure.

Although there was no injury, Seminara said he did let it affect his concentration.

“I’m not blessed with an incredible arm,” Seminara said. “I’ve got to go right at the guys I know I’m capable of getting out. It’s really kind of simple, sometimes, when you throw strikes.”

One thing the Padres have done is provide Seminara with runs, which is obvious when you compare his impressive record (4-2) with his inflated ERA (4.82). During his four-game winning streak, the Padres have scored 30 runs--an average of 7.5 a game.

“We’re in a pennant race,” Seminara said. “I’ve got to be happy with that performance.”

Larry Andersen pitched the eighth and ninth innings and earned his first save since last Oct. 6 at Cincinnati.