Youth Served as Padres Beat Expos : Mark Grant Leads Way With a Career-High Seven Strikeouts

SAN DIEGO —  Before Tuesday night’s game against the Montreal Expos, Padre Manager Larry Bowa mused about his team’s potential for next season.

“The key to me,” Bowa said, referring to his young pitchers, “is the kids.”

Mark Grant, one of those kids, gave Bowa some confidence in the future, giving up only five hits in 7 innings of a 5-1 victory over the Expos in front of 12,105 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“I’m like a kid with a new toy,” said Grant, 23, who had a career-high seven strikeouts.

“I was waiting for them to put up the big top and see the dancing bears. It was like a circus,” Grant said about left fielder Stanley Jefferson’s kneeling catch of pinch-hitter Wallace Johnson’s drive, which ended a Montreal threat.

Grant, acquired from the San Francisco Giants in a midseason trade, got his fourth victory in 11 decisions this season. Lance McCullers finished up to earn a save.

Grant got off to a slow start, walking three batters in the first inning.

But he got out of trouble, helped by catcher Benito Santiago’s on-the-money throw to second that caught Tim Raines stealing.

Grant said that after the first, he told himself he had the right stuff, and he seemed to have convinced himself. In the second, he came back with fastballs and struck out the side.

Grant’s teammates made things a bit easier in the third inning, giving him a 5-0 cushion.

Jefferson led off the inning with a solo home run, his first as a right-handed hitter. Expo left-hander Neal Heaton then gave up three straight singles, all between second and third base. Tony Gwynn hit the first one, extending his hitting streak to seven games, and then stole second base. Randy Ready and Carmelo Martinez followed with singles, the latter scoring Gwynn.

Santiago continued the big inning with a three-run home run into the left-center-field seats.

The Padres also helped themselves defensively. Tim Raines, third in the league in hitting with a .338 average, was robbed of a possible triple in the third inning when Shane Mack slammed against the center-field wall for a catch. In the eighth inning, Raines was robbed again when Gwynn made a leaping catch of his long fly ball.

In the fourth inning, Jefferson’s catch allowed the Padres to keep their comfortable lead. Tim Wallach had already hit a solo home run and Casey Candaele and Jeff Reed were on base when Expo Manager Buck Rodgers had Johnson pinch-hit for Heaton. Jefferson lost Johnson’s long fly ball in the lights in left and fell to his knees, but still managed to make the catch to end the inning.

“I just dove and caught it,” Jefferson said. “It was close, I was really scared it would hit me in the head and that would have been embarrassing. I was actually lying down when I caught it.”

San Diego is now 3-7 against Montreal, 2-2 at home, and Bowa was obviously pleased.

“We’re starting to pay back some teams that were laughing at us earlier in the year,” Bowa said.

Padre Notes

Expo Tim Raines, who ranks fifth in the National League in stolen bases with 41, was thrown out by Benito Santiago when he tried to steal second in the first inning. It was only the fourth time Raines has been caught stealing this season. . . . Tony Gwynn, fourth in stolen bases going into the game, stole his 44th base in the third inning. . . . Four of the league’s top five batters were at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium Tuesday: Gwynn (.366), John Kruk (.339), Raines (.338) and Montreal’s Andres Galarraga (.326). Milt Thompson (.332) of Philadelphia is fourth. . . . Kruk, who strained his lower back Saturday night in New York, told Manager Larry Bowa that he could play Tuesday. “When they say they’re ready to play, I like to let them go one more day to make sure,” Bowa said. The manager added that Kruk could pinch-hit if needed. . . . Andy Hawkins, who has not pitched since being placed on the 15-day disabled list on July 30, threw Tuesday, and Bowa said he looked good. But Bowa doesn’t plan to bring back Hawkins until Sept. 1, when major league teams can expand their rosters to 40 players. . . . Bowa doesn’t expect to bring up a lot of players when the roster expands. “It’s up to Jack (McKeon) and Chub (Feeney),” he said, “but I don’t want to bring up a lot of guys and sit them down and have them collect dust for 30 days.”