PADRES UPDATE : NOTEBOOK / BOB NIGHTENGALE : Padres’ 5-Hour Loss to Giants Places a Strain on Tony Gwynn

Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn sat slumped in front of his locker early Wednesday morning, and somehow tried to explain what transpired the previous five hours.

After 10 years and nearly 1,500 games, Gwynn said had never been involved in a game like Tuesday’s at Candlestick Park.

It lasted hour 5 hours, 4 minutes, ending in the 16th inning with the San Francisco Giants beating the Padres, 6-5, on a wild pitch.

It equaled the longest game at Candlestick, and before it ended at 12:40 in the morning, the scoreboard was showing “Late Night with David Letterman” for what remained of the season-low crowd of 7,731.

“It was so quiet you could hear everything that was being said in the stands,” Giant Manager Roger Craig said. “I heard one guy shout, ‘Flip a coin, dammit, just flip a coin!’ ”

The game was so long, so exhaustive, that Gwynn opened the game with four consecutive hits, and by the end was trying to get out of a slump.

Gwynn went 0 for 3 after his first four hits before his 16th-inning single gave him his first five-hit game since Aug. 11, 1987.

“I’ve never been as tired and drained as I am now,” said Gwynn, who was out of Wednesday’s lineup with a sore left knee. “The longer the game went, the longer it kept going, the more difficult it was to concentrate. It was hard to do anything.”

The Padres and Giants went to the plate 126 times in the game, but the teams left 23 runners stranded, each side going seven innings without scoring.

When the Giants finally did score, perhaps it was only fitting that it occurred on a series of fluke plays.

Giant second baseman Robby Thompson led off the 16th inning with a little flare that deflected off the glove of second baseman Jeff Gardner. If Gardner, a superb defensive player, had taken a step back instead of jumping up, perhaps the ball could have been caught. But Gardner still was groggy from a collision at first base with Giant pitcher Jeff Brantley at the top of the 16th.

Kirt Manwaring then laid down a sacrifice bunt, and when Padre reliever Gene Harris tried to nail Thompson at second, the ball bounced away from shortstop Tony Fernandez.

The Giants had runners on first and third with no outs. It was the first time since the eighth inning that either team had a runner reach third.

Harris, perhaps a bit rattled, threw his next pitch low into the dirt. It bounced away from catcher Benito Santiago. Thompson ran in from third.

Harris stayed at the plate, praying the throw would arrive from Santiago, but it never came. Instead, as Thompson barreled home, Harris threw his shoulder in his way, almost as if it was a reflex from his football-playing days.

Thompson scored, Harris shoved him, Thompson pushed back, and both benches emptied. But each team was too tired to fight.

The Padres wound up with a franchise-record eight doubles and yielded only one earned run in 11 1/3 innings in relief.

But the loss ended the Padres’ five-game winning streak.

“I was telling (bench coach Jim) Sndyer,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said, “after all the games we’ve played at Candlestick, we certainly won’t forget the last one we played here.”

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The Padres’ defeat left them with a 5-11 record in extra-inning games this season, the worst in the National League.

If the Padres’ extra-inning record was turned around, they’d be only two games out of first place.

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Padre starter Doug Brocail, who yielded six hits and four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings in his major-league debut, certainly won’t forget his Candlestick appearance.

“It’s not the kind of debut you’d like to have,” Brocail said, “but I’m sure I’ll remember it. I really wasn’t as nervous as I thought I’d be, until I stepped to the plate. Then, I started shaking real bad.”

Brocail still got a bunt single in his first at-bat, and he was out by only a half-step in his second at-bat.

“That was nice,” Brocail said, “but I’d still trade them in for that win.”

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The Padres changed the starting time of Friday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds to 7:35 p.m. to accommodate ESPN. The Padres don’t seem to mind: They’re 19-5 in the 24 games televised by ESPN.

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Riddoch and other personnel from the organization will participate in United Way’s county-wide program Saturday for the Neighborhood House Youth Service Center in Southeast San Diego.

Riddoch will lead a group of volunteers from the Padre organization who will paint offices and activity areas, clean up the grounds, play games, and engage youngsters and families in arts and crafts.