Frustrations Continue for Struggling Padres in 4-3 Loss to Cardinals

ST. LOUIS —  In Manager Jack McKeon’s dreams Tuesday night, he probably saw the Padres load the bases again and again--and then find ways not to score.

That wasn’t all that different than what occurred in the Padres’ 4-3 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

The Padres loaded the bases six times. They had one runner thrown out at the plate, another picked off second and stranded 12 others, seven in scoring position.

“There’s no reason to lose that game,” McKeon said. “I can’t single out one guy. Everybody had a chance.”

The Padres had seven at-bats with the bases loaded, and produced just two sacrifice flies and a run-scoring error. The game ended when the Padres loaded the bases in the ninth, but Randy Ready flied to right.

“We just need somebody to pick us up and give us that one key hit,” McKeon said. “I thought Jerald Clark was going to do it. They’re all busting their tails out there. There isn’t one guy out there who didn’t want to get a hit with the bases loaded.

“We just had so many opportunities, that’s what makes it so frustrating. We came back, but we just needed somebody to give us that one hit to break it open and it didn’t happen.”

Jerald Clark, starting his second consecutive game since being recalled from Las Vegas, struck out twice with the bases loaded.

But he wasn’t the only non-productive hitter in a lineup that had 11 hits and five walks and managed just the three runs.

In three consecutive innings, the third, fourth and fifth, the Padres had a runner on third with no outs against Cardinals’ 23-year-old rookie right-hander Ken Hill and scored just once.

Garry Templeton led off the third with a triple and was stranded. With the bases loaded in the fourth and nobody out, Clark struck out, Mark Parent hit a sacrifice fly and after Templeton walked, loading the bases again, Rasmussen struck out.

In the fifth, Roberto Alomar led off with a double--extending his hitting streak to seven games--and went to third on a single by Luis Salazar. But the inning fizzled when Alomar was caught in a rundown and tagged out, Salazar was picked off second and Jack Clark struck out.

The one inning the Padres did manage to bunch three singles--two of which didn’t get out of the infield--an error and a sacrifice fly for two runs was immediately wasted.

That rally in the seventh tied the score, 3-3, but the second batter Greg Harris faced in the bottom of the inning, Tony Pena, slammed an pitch over the left-field wall to give the Cardinals the lead for good.

“There’s just no margin for error,” McKeon said. “They (relievers) can’t make a mistake because then we don’t have a chance.”

Tony Gwynn and Jack Clark are two of the most frustrated Padres, but they say the only way to change the results is to keep trying.

“Same old song,” Gwynn said. “I can’t say it anymore. When you get that many opportunities, you’ve got to cash more of them in than we did. We had the opportunities. You can’t keep beating a dead horse. I’ve said it enough.

“If we had cashed in more of our opportunities it wouldn’t even have been a close game. Would of, could of, whatever.”

Gwynn said the Padres keep waiting for somebody, anybody, to get the hit that will turn the team’s fortunes around.

“That would let everybody relax and go out and do what they are capable of doing,” Gwynn said. “Until that happens it looks to me like everybody’s going to keep pressing.”

Clark, who was making his first appearance in St. Louis as a Padre, credited the Cardinals.

“They made some defensive plays, by (Terry) Pendleton and (Tom) Brunansky that possibly could have meant five or six runs,” Clark said. “You can’t get much closer to getting that hit than we got tonight. We came a little closer than we’ve been coming.”

The victims of the Padres’ poor clutch hitting were starter Dennis Rasmussen and Harris (0-1). Rasmussen hasn’t won since his first start of the season. The run off Harris was the first he has allowed in 7 2/3 innings this season.

Rasmussen surrendered a run in the first on a walk and two infield hits, and gave up two more runs with two outs in the fourth, on an RBI single by Milt Thompson and a double by Pena.

“He’s getting better,” McKeon said. “He made a bad pitch to Pena. He sure as heck didn’t want to give him a double with the pitcher coming up.”

The victory went to reliever Ken Dayley, who got out of the seventh-inning jam by striking out Jerald Clark. Todd Worrell pitched the final inning for his sixth save.

McKeon said he would make a couple of lineup changes for Wednesday night’s game, inserting catcher Benito Santiago and first baseman Carmelo Martinez in his continuing attempt to produce the right combination.

“We’ll be OK,” Gwynn said. “Sooner or later it’s got to turn. We just can’t seem to catch a break that will break the game open.”

Padre Notes

Mark Parent started his third consecutive game, even though Manager Jack McKeon had said Sunday he intended to start Benito Santiago in the opener of a four-city, 12-game trip. Santiago is mired in a six-for-42 slump and is hitting just .208. . . . The Padres’ lineup was exactly the same as Sunday, with Jack Clark in right field. Clark made his first appearance in St. Louis since leaving the Cardinals as a free agent at the end of the 1987 season and received a generally favorable reception. “It felt different going to the hotel instead of to my house,” Clark said. “It is a distraction to a certain extent, especially because I’m not hitting the ball well. It will be nice to get it over with and out of the way.” Clark said he thinks the Padres will be better with him playing the outfield and newcomer Rob Nelson playing first. “I can still play right field,” Clark said. “My arm feels good. I feel pretty healthy all the way around. Hopefully this will take a little pressure off hitting-wise.” . . . When Clark walked (his league-leading 32nd of the year) and was stranded in the second inning, it marked the 50th time he has been on base this season. He has scored just 12 runs. . . . Cardinal left fielder Vince Coleman was a last-minute scratch from the starting lineup because of a sore hamstring. . . . Walt Terrell (3-3) will oppose Joe Magrane (2-2) Wednesday night. It will be Terrell’s seventh career start against the Cardinals, the first since 1984, when he was with the Mets.