Wynne’s Double Leads Padres Past Cubs

CHICAGO —  Marvell Wynne says he enjoys playing in front of his family, but he wasn’t trying to impress them.

“I’m not trying to be a superstar or anything like that,” said Wynne, a Chicago native and resident who doubled home the winning run Wednesday in the San Diego Padres’ 7-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

“It’s something special playing in front of my mother and father,” Wynne said.

With the score tied 5-5, Steve Garvey singled off Ray Fontenot, 3-5, to lead off the eighth. After Dave Gumpert relieved Fontenot, Leon Roberts pinch ran for Garvey and was sacrificed to second by pinch-hitter Bruce Bochy.

Wynne followed with a double that got past a diving Gary Matthews for his seventh game-winning run-batted in of the season. Wynne later scored an insurance run on a wild pitch by Gumpert as the Padres broke a five-game losing streak.

“I was looking just to make contact,” Wynne said. “He (Gumpert) fell behind 2 and 0 and I knew he had to come in with a fastball.”

Padres’ reliever Craig Lefferts, 7-4, pitched one perfect inning for the victory in relief of Andy Hawkins. Rich Gossage pitched the final two innings, striking out the side in the ninth, for his 17th save.

“I threw a lot of sliders,” said Gossage, who threw only 10 pitches in the ninth. “The way it was breaking today, I couldn’t hardly not throw it.”

The victory gave San Diego a rare victory on its current road trip.

“We don’t want to get buried in the Western Division,” said San Diego Manager Steve Boros. “It’s important for us to come away with a win before going in to play the (St. Louis) Cardinals.”

Cubs Manager Gene Michael said three costly errors hurt his team, especially a fumble by Fontenot on Tim Flannery’s bunt in the seventh that eventually led to two runs.

“Fielding has hurt Fontenot on three different occasions since I’ve been here,” said Michael, who has managed the Cubs last 33 games.

The Cubs scored twice in the second. Ron Cey singled and scored on Shawon Dunston’s double. Dunston later scored on another double by Chicago starter Scott Sanderson.

San Diego scored a run in third when Tony Gwynn, who had three hits and two RBI, drove Garry Templeton with a single.

The Padres took the lead in the fifth.

Templeton doubled, took third on second baseman Ryne Sandberg’s fielding error and scored on Flannery’s single to tie the game 2-2. Sanderson left the game because of stiffness in his lower back.

Catcher Jody Davis picked Hawkins off third, but John Kruk, who also had three hits and two RBI, singled to score Flannery.

Chicago regained the lead on a two-run homer by Sandberg, his 10th, in the fifth inning.

Davis increased the lead to 5-3 by hitting his 12th homer in the sixth.

San Diego tied the game in the seventh on an RBI double by Gwynn and a run-scoring single by Kruk.