11-Run Inning Helps Padres Win, 12-5

Pete Harnisch was rolling along through five innings Tuesday, enjoying a four-run lead and the San Diego sunshine, which sure beat being back in the snow in New York.

He had faced only one batter over the minimum when Chris Gomez stood in to hit and homered. Then Ricky Henderson homered. And Quilvio Veras.

By the time the Padres finished their sixth inning, they had scored 11 runs and were on their way to a 12-5 victory over the Mets that sent everybody to the record book.

This is what they found: It was the best inning by a National League club on opening day in this century.

They didn’t need the record books to show that it was the ugliest.

“We were down 4-0 and I was starting to feel like, ‘Oh man, I hope we don’t blow this,’ ” Gomez said. “The fans were pumped, we were pumped. We wanted to start the season on a high point. That inning was a big relief for everybody.”

But a disaster for the Mets, who were 71-91 last year.

“Hopefully it will be our worst inning of the year,” new Met Manager Bobby Valentine said.

It was enough to send Harnisch back to tobacco.

He said he had gotten little sleep the previous five nights, one of the effects of quitting chewing tobacco two weeks ago. He only told the team of the problem on Monday, and Valentine let him decide whether he’d pitch. Harnisch said he felt OK went he got to the park Tuesday.

His mental shape wasn’t quite so good when he left.

San Diego sent 15 batters to the plate in the sixth. The 11-run outburst included the three homers, three singles, one double, four walks and a hit batsman off four pitchers. Four Padres scored two runs each in the inning, and five drove in two runs apiece.

Harnisch coasted through five innings before giving up the three homers and left with the Mets holding a 4-3 lead. Tony Gwynn then singled off loser Yorkis Perez, stole second as Steve Finley struck out and scored the tying run on Ken Caminiti’s single.

“I just got careless,” Harnisch said. “You usually don’t make three bad pitches that go out of the park. I pitched well for five innings, but then it got ugly in the sixth.”

Cincinnati 11, Colorado 4--Deion Sanders opened the home half of the first inning with a double, then singled, stole two bases and scored on one of the Rockies’ two errors in his return to baseball after a season devoted solely to the NFL.

The Rockies, seeking to reverse a trend on the road in which they put together a miserable 28-53 record away from Coors Field last season, gave up four runs in the first inning but came back to tie the score, 4-4, in the fourth.

Winning pitcher John Smiley doubled in a run in the fifth to break the tie and the Reds put the game away with four runs in the sixth inning.

Montreal 2, St. Louis 1--Expo pinch-hitter Sherman Obando drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning to force in the winning run in Montreal.

Rondell White led off with an infield single off losing reliever Rich Batchelor and moved to third on a single by Henry Rodriguez. David Segui walked intentionally to load the bases and bring up pinch-hitter Andy Stankiewicz.

He grounded to third, and Gary Gaetti tagged out White, but the other runners moved along, setting the stage for Obando, who worked the count to 3 and 2 before drawing the walk off reliever Tony Fossas to force in Rodriguez.

Florida 4, Chicago 2--Kevin Brown and two relievers combined on a three-hitter to make new Manager Jim Leyland’s debut with the Marlins a successful one in Miami.

Moises Alou, one of Florida’s six free-agent acquisitions in deals totaling $89 million this winter, homered in his first at-bat and drove in another run with a sacrifice fly.

Rookie Kevin Orie’s first major-league hit, a high hopper that barely eluded third baseman Bobby Bonilla and shortstop Edgar Renteria in the fifth inning, was the extent of Chicago’s offense in seven innings against Brown.

Mark Hutton and Robb Nen completed the victory.

Houston 2, Atlanta 1--Shane Reynolds shut down the Braves, striking out newcomer Kenny Lofton at Houston.

Jeff Bagwell hit an RBI groundout and Pat Listach had a sacrifice fly for the Astros.

NL Cy Young Award winner John Smoltz, coming off a 24-8 season, gave up eight hits, struck out six and walked one in the first complete game of the 1997 season. He lost to San Francisco in his first start last year, then won 14 in a row.

Lofton, acquired along with pitcher Alan Embree from Cleveland last week for David Justice and Marquis Grissom, singled in the third inning and struck out in the first, fifth and seventh.

BEST OF THE DAY

BATTING

*--*

Player Team Performance Result Tony Gwynn San Diego 3 for 5, 2 RBIs, 2 runs Win Deion Sanders Cincinnati 2 for 4, 2 runs, 2 steals Win Delino DeShields St. Louis 2 for 4, triple, scored only run Loss

*--*

PITCHING

*--*

Player Team Performance Result Curt Schilling Philadelphia 8 innings, 2 hits, 11 strikeouts Win John Smoltz Atlanta 9 innings, 8 hits, 6 strikeouts Loss Shane Reynolds Houston 8 innings, 7 hits, 7 strikeouts Win

*--*