Player Padres Didn't Want Gives Astros Hit They Need : Baseball: Incaviglia's RBI single propels Houston to 1-0 victory. Padres waste nine shutout innings by Benes.

By BOB NIGHTENGALE

April 20, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

HOUSTON — The Padres not only ignored him, but laughed aloud at the suggestion. Pete Incaviglia? Why in the world would they need that guy?

Tony Attanasio, Incaviglia’s agent, pleaded with the Padres to sign him this past off-season. He told them about Incaviglia’s drastic weight loss. He vowed he would be the perfect fit for their team.

“We weren’t interested in him, not at all,” Padre General Manager Joe McIlvaine said. “Tony really wanted us to sign him, but my thought on him was that he was an American League player.”

It was Incaviglia’s turn to laugh Sunday, after he hit a two-out, bases-loaded single in the 11th inning to provide the Houston Astros with a 1-0 victory over the Padres.

Padre starter Andy Benes shut out the Astros for nine innings, allowing only five hits, striking out 11 batters and lowering his ERA to 0.39. Although he did not figure in the decision, it will be remembered as one of the finest performances of his career.

“I guess it was fitting to play on Easter and have so many goose eggs on the scoreboard,” Benes said.

Benes also was the most potent hitter in the Padre lineup, snapping a zero-for-54 drought with a double and single.

You want ugly?

The Padres, losing their fourth consecutive game and falling out of first place, have scored four runs in their last 39 innings and none in the past 14.

You want absurd?

They have only four extra-base hits in their last 149 at-bats, all doubles.

You want totally outrageous?

The past five opposing starters have yielded a 0.45 ERA against the Padres, striking out 25 batters.

“Right now,” Padre center fielder Darrin Jackson said, “we look terrible. What are you going to do when you have the 5-6-7 hitters hit in the .100s.

“You can’t have the other guys carry you all year long.”

Benito Santiago, the Padres’ No. 5 hitter, is batting .128 with one RBI; Jerald Clark, the No. 6 hitter, is batting .167 with two RBIs; and Jackson, the No. 7 hitter, is batting .116 with two RBIs.

“It’s got to stop,” Jackson said. “Sometime, it’s got to stop.”

Perhaps that’s why Incaviglia found it so ironic that he was the one who drove in the game-winner, giving him a .283 batting average with six RBIs.

“It’s sweet revenge for me to get the base hit and win the game,” Incaviglia said, smiling broadly. “I thought the Padres were interested, but I guess they looked at me as a big, heavy, slow guy who can’t play defense and can’t run.

“I think a lot of people worried about me physically, and looked at me as a one-dimensional, DH-type player. Nobody knew I was in good shape but the Astros.”

Incaviglia, who has dropped 45 pounds since playing for the Detroit Tigers last year, signed a one-year, non-guaranteed contract for $700,000 with the Astros as a nonroster player. It might have been their best investment since landing the Republican Convention.

After sweeping the Padres at the Astrodome for the first time since 1985, the Astros are in first place, tied with the San Francisco Giants, for the first time since June 11, 1989.

“Who’d have thunk it,” Astro Manager Art Howe said.

Then again, who would have thought that after the first 13 games of the season, the only Padre starters who have won a game are Andy Benes and Craig Lefferts.

The Padres, who have stranded 22 baserunners the past two games--batting .067 with runners in scoring position--failed to even reach third base in the game. It wasn’t exactly as if they were facing Mike Scott, either. This was a kid named Butch Henry, who entered the game with a 6.75 ERA, making only the third start of his career.

Yet, the quartet of Santiago, Clark, Jackson and Tim Teufel went zero for 19, hitting only five balls out of the infield.

“We really shut down their hitting,” Howe said, “and once we got past their big man (Benes), we thought we were in the drivers’ seat.”

The Astros actually almost beat Benes themselves in the ninth inning, when Craig Biggio hit a one-out double and Steve Finley followed with a single to center. Biggio was waved home, but was thrown out at the plate by Jackson.

In the 11th inning, they went to work on relievers Rich Rodriguez and Larry Andersen. Rodriguez, who had never allowed a run to the Astros in 12 2/3 innings, allowed a leadoff single to Rafael Ramirez. Karl Rhodes followed with a sacrifice. The Padres then elected to intentionally walk Biggio, who already had two doubles in the game.

Finley hit a sharp grounder to second baseman Teufel, but he was able to make a game-saving play by smothering the ball and throwing Finley out at first. It left runners on second and third with two out, and Padre Manager Greg Riddoch again ordered Jeff Bagwell to be intentionally walked, loading the bases.

The Astros called upon Incaviglia to pinch-hit for pitcher Xavier Hernandez (1-0). Riddoch summoned Andersen.

Howe warned Incaviglia to look for the slider. Andersen, who has one of the best in the business, threw the first two pitches past Incaviglia, getting ahead on an 0-2 count. Incaviglia then took the next two pitches for balls, and Howe called him aside again, telling him not to be afraid of taking a walk for the game-winning run.

Andersen’s next pitch was a slider on the outside corner of the plate. It was the pitch he wanted to throw. Only Incaviglia reached out and poked it into center, to the delight of 7,717 fans.

“It was the pitch I wanted,” Andersen said, “but the bottom line is that I didn’t get the job done. If I did, we’d still be playing. I take the blame for that.

“Maybe one of these days, I’ll get somebody out.”

Said Benes: “Right now, we can’t wait to get out of here. The Astros drove us crazy. The best thing for us is to go home, regroup and wish this never happened.”