Sunday, August 01, 1999
Astros 8, Padres 5
The Associated Press
SAN DIEGO — Lance Berkman might have made himself a member of Houston's Killer B's. The rookie hit his first two home runs and Jeff Bagwell also connected twice as the Astros beat San Diego 8-5 Saturday night, extending the Padres' losing streak to nine games.
The Astros are 8-0 against the Padres this season and can complete the season sweep Sunday. Houston lost to San Diego in the first round of last year's playoffs.
Berkman recovered enough from a stiff neck to start, and he and Bagwell probably gave Padres pitchers stiff necks as they turned to watch balls fly out of the stadium.
“It's almost like a relief to get it off your back,” Berkman said of his first homers. “That's why they brought me up here. They wanted me to give them a little punch off the bench or fill in in the outfield. Now I feel I can relax because I've shown them I can hit home runs at this level.”
Berkman, promoted from Triple-A New Orleans on July 16, got a crick in his neck taking a swing in batting practice a few days ago in Colorado.
Manager Larry Dierker said he started Berkman because he had two hits off Andy Ashby in a 5-2 win over the Padres last Sunday at Houston.
“That was the nicest thing about the game,” Dierker said. “I just happened to put him in the lineup.”
Otherwise, Dierker wasn't happy with his pitchers. Specifically, he didn't like the Padres scoring four runs on just two hits in the sixth inning to tie it, and was steamed that closer Billy Wagner threw 34 pitches in a non-save situation in the ninth, making him unavailable for Sunday.
“I don't like to complain about a win, but there were a lot of things about it I wasn't really happy about,” Dierker said.
Bagwell, third in the majors in homers behind Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa with 35, hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh off Dan Miceli and a solo shot off Carlos Reyes with two outs in the ninth. Both were just left of dead center field, giving Bagwell his fourth multiple-homer game of the year.
With one out in the seventh, the game tied 4-4 and Bill Spiers aboard on a fielder's choice, Bagwell hit the first pitch he saw from Miceli (4-3) to straightaway center field, his 34th. With two outs, Berkman lined the first pitch he saw from Miceli — who had been the subject of trade rumors — into the right-field seats.
“I was trying to get ahead a couple times,” Miceli said. “The first time with the fastball and then again with the changeup.”
Berkman hit a two-run shot in the fourth off Ashby for his first big league homer.
“They have our number this year,” Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. “That's a good club. They've got pitching, speed and power.”
Tony Gwynn went hitless for the second straight night to remain nine short of 3,000 for his career. He went 0-for-3 with two walks. Gwynn has just nine hits in 11 games since coming off the disabled list on July 19.
Doug Henry (1-1) allowed one hit in 1 1-3 innings for the win.
Billy Wagner got Reggie Sanders to foul out to right field with the bases loaded to end it.
Houston took a 4-0 lead on Berkman's first homer and Derek Bell's two-run double in the fifth.
But converted reliever Scott Elarton, who opened with 4 1-3 perfect innings, faded quickly in the sixth, when the Padres scored four runs on two hits, three walks, Craig Biggio's fielding error and a hit batsman.
Gwynn drew a bases-loaded walk for San Diego's first run and Reggie Sanders followed with a two-run single. Pinch-hitter Dave Magadan also drew a bases-loaded walk, off Doug Henry, to force in the tying run.
Elarton had his fifth straight no-decision. He allowed four runs, two earned, and three hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Ashby gave up four runs and six hits in six innings.
NOTES: Padres general manager Kevin Towers said he didn't come close to landing a third baseman before Saturday night's non-waiver deadline. Phil Nevin, taken by the Astros as the No. 1 pick overall in the June 1992 draft, made his sixth start at third for the Padres. ... Bagwell's homer was his 23rd on the road, setting an Astros record. ... Elarton moved into the rotation after Sean Bergman, a former Padres pitcher, was sidelined by elbow tendinitis and eventually put on the disabled list. ... The last time the Padres were swept in a season series was 1994, when they lost 12 straight to Montreal.
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