Myers Preserves Dramatic Victory : Padres: He induces game-ending double play in 2-1 decision over Reds.

The Padres were trying to act calm Monday night after their 2-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. As if they didn’t want to blow their cover, they said it was only another victory in a long season.

“I want people to sweat it out,” said Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn, trying to conceal his zeal. “All of a sudden, people have gotten real interested in this club. They’re coming to the games and even hanging around to the end.

“Hey, we believed in ourselves all along. It’s only now that people are starting to notice.”

While everyone in baseball has been talking about a two-team National League West race between the Atlanta Braves and Reds, the Padres are introducing themselves as a third party.

The Padres (54-46) won their third consecutive game in front of 25,182 fans at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium to move within five games of the division-leading Braves and four games of the second-place Reds. The Padres are a season-high eight games above .500, and it’s the closest they’ve been to first place since July 3.

“Everyone’s been taking San Diego for granted,” Reds pitcher Jose Rijo said. “They can hit, they can really hit. If they can get that pitching anywhere together, that could be the team to beat.”

Said Reds Manager Lou Piniella: “Hey, you better believe San Diego’s still in the race. They’ve got a good ballclub, a damn good ballclub.”

The Padres, who relied almost exclusively on their hitting to keep them in the race the first half of the season, have won recently with pitching.

On Monday, starter Andy Benes and bullpen stopper Randy Myers stymied the Reds on seven hits.

Benes, who watched his teammates go 21 innings without scoring for him, took a 2-1 lead into the ninth inning. It came within a few precious feet of not being enough.

Bip Roberts, who afterward blamed himself for the Reds’ loss, opened the ninth inning with a double into the right-center gap. Padre Manager Greg Riddoch decided Benes had enough. He summoned Myers.

The crowd, as it has for most of the season, greeted him with a loud chorus of boos.

“I thought they were cheering for me for a while,” Myers said, “but then I realized it was for Andy walking off the field.”

Myers, who had allowed the past six baserunners he has inherited to score (and 13 of 24 for the season), induced a ground ball from pinch-hitter Glenn Braggs. It moved Roberts to third.

Pitching carefully to Barry Larkin, Myers walked him on a full-count. Left-handed hitter Hal Morris, who’s batting .305 this season, was due up.

Piniella had other ideas. Since Morris never had faced Myers, Piniella called for right-handed pinch-hitter Chris Sabo. Sabo, who had been to a chiropractor in the morning for his ailing back, had only one at-bat in the Reds’ previous eight games.

Still, Piniella believed Sabo would at least deliver a sacrifice fly.

Instead, Sabo hit a 1-0 pitch to the left side of shortstop Tony Fernandez. Fernandez picked the ball up on the short hop and started a game-ending double play.

The crowd went bonkers.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” Gwynn said. “It was a classic game. The kind everyone loves except for the guys playing in it.”

If there was any doubt of the importance of the game, the crowd removed it in the third inning. That’s when the scoreboard flashed a score: Houston 5, Atlanta 1.

The crowd roared so much that Cincinnati starter Greg Swindell momentarily stopped.

“I stepped out of the box wondering what was going on,” said Fred McGriff, who was at the plate. “I thought maybe there was a streaker in the field again.”

Said Benes (8-9): “I thought there was a fight in the stands or something.”

The Astros’ 11-inning victory buoyed both the Reds and the Padres.

“It was unreal the way (the Braves) were playing,” Piniella said. “I mean, if they keep playing the way they were, who the hell’s going to catch them? But if we’re consistent, I know we’ll be right there, and so will San Diego.”

The Padres have climbed back into the race thanks to a pitching staff with a 1.86 ERA in the past 10 games.

Roberts, playing left field, helped the Padre offense. Darrin Jackson opened the eighth by slapping a sharp liner into left field. Although Roberts had no chance to make the catch, he dove anyway.

The ball bounced at least four feet in front of him and kicked to the fence. Jackson had a triple.

“It was bad judgment on my part,” Roberts said. “It cost us the game.”

After Swindell struck out McGriff and got Santiago to ground out, Tim Teufel--starting in place of Gary Sheffield (bruised right knee)--broke the 1-1 tie with a single into center field.

Padre left fielder Jerald Clark contributed two defensive gems. He robbed Roberts of an extra-base hit in the third with an over-the-shoulder catch. In the fourth inning, Clark threw out Hal Morris trying to scramble back to first base on a fly ball.

The only critical mistake Benes made all evening Bill Doran’s homer in the second.