Padres Call for Jones, Win It, 3-0

Some nights, it must not seem worth the effort to the Dodgers.

Monday was one of those nights.

Having won five of six games, including back-to-back come-from-behind victories over the division-leading Cincinnati Reds Saturday and Sunday, the Dodgers were getting accustomed to having things go their way.

But in a 3-0 loss to the San Diego Padres, nothing seemed to go right.

Of course, these aren’t the Padres who elicited laughter and pity in the first two months of the season, winning only 12 of their first 56 games.

These are the apparently rejuvenated Padres, who were 8-4 on their last home stand and have won 12 of their last 16 games, making the last place team in the National League West one of the hottest teams in baseball.

Before a crowd of 42,738, the Padres lost their starting pitcher, Storm Davis, after only one inning, but rookie Jimmy Jones, in his longest stint of the season, came on to allow only two-hits over the final eight innings.

“Things just fell into place,” Jones said, modestly.

Actually, Jones (2-3), who brought a 6.19 earned-run average into the game, helped them along. He didn’t allow any hits after Mike Marshall’s two-out single in the fourth inning, struck out two and walked two.

Jones, who has been in and out of the rotation, was told before the game that he might have to make an early appearance because Davis, who missed his last start because of muscle spasms in his lower back, still wasn’t feeling right.

“He still had good stuff--he has an unbelievable arm,” Jones said, “but you could tell by his facial expressions that he was hurting.”

When Davis decided he couldn’t continue past the first inning, Jones, a 23-year-old right-hander from Dallas who threw a one-hitter at Houston last September in his major league debut, was at the ready.

“I just felt real good,” he said. “I felt strong.”

An 8-2 winner over the Dodgers last Oct. 1 at San Diego, he beat the Dodgers again because the Padres were able to score on some seeing-eye hits.

Dodger starter Bob Welch hadn’t given up a run in 19 innings against the Padres this season before the Padres pushed across two runs in the third inning after two were out.

Welch, who beat the Padres twice in six days two months ago, walked Tim Flannery with two out, then gave up a single to Tony Gwynn, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a bouncer through the middle that barely eluded both shortstop Dave Anderson and second baseman Steve Sax, sending Flannery to third base.

Anderson, cutting across second base, seemed to distract Sax on the play.

Carmelo Martinez followed with a line drive to left, scoring Flannery and sending Gwynn to third. Gwynn scored when John Kruk beat out a nubber to shortstop that only narrowly eluded Welch’s outstretched glove.

Anderson bobbled the ball momentarily, and by the time he got a grip on it, Kruk was able to beat the throw to first base.

Another nubber, this one hit by Kevin Mitchell and fielded by Welch about 20 feet from home plate, loaded the bases, but Welch struck out Benito Santiago to end a frustrating inning.

In the fifth, the Padres used another cheap hit to score again.

With Gwynn on first base, Martinez all but threw his bat at a Welch pitch, blooping the ball into right field for a single that sent Gwynn to third.

Martinez was caught stealing on a strong throw by catcher Mike Scioscia for the second out, but Gwynn scored when a wild pitch by Welch hit the dirt and bounced through Scioscia’s legs, allowing Gwynn to cross the plate without a play.

“It doesn’t matter if they hit nubbers,” Welch said. “All that matters is that they crossed the plate.”

Welch (8-4), who hasn’t won since June 7, left after the sixth, having given up eight hits while walking one, hitting one batter and striking out seven. In 17 innings of two previous starts against the Padres, he had yielded only nine hits.

Meanwhile, Davis faced only three batters. He had been switched with Dave Dravecky in the starting rotation Sunday after telling Manager Larry Bowa that he felt better.

But after striking out two and walking one in the first inning, he took himself out of the game.

Before the bottom of the second inning, he summoned Bowa to the mound. After making his first warm-up pitch, he said something to Bowa, who heeded Storm’s warning and called on Jones.

Davis headed for the clubhouse and Jones came on stake a claim for a permanent spot in the Padre rotation. He certainly impressed Bowa, who had one reservation: “He seems to pitch better when he doesn’t know he’s going to pitch and you catch him off guard.”

Dodger Notes San Diego’s Benito Santiago was hit above the elbow on his left arm by a Bob Welch pitch in the sixth inning and was forced to leave the game. . . . Dodger shortstop Mariano Duncan, who hasn’t played since suffering a laceration above his right knee June 18, said he will be ready to play by Saturday, when he is scheduled to come off the disabled list. But Dave Anderson, who took a career-high 11-game hitting streak into Monday night’s game, has earned the starting job, Duncan said. “I like to say the truth,” Duncan said. “I want to play, but I know he’s doing a great job.” . . . Anderson was 0 for 2, with two walks, ending his 11-game hitting streak. . . . The Dodgers have been shut out 7 times this season, all at Dodger Stadium.. . . Dave Dravecky (3-6), who was scheduled to pitch Monday night, will start for the Padres tonight. . . . Monday was Rick Honeycutt’s 33rd birthday and Pedro Guerrero’s 31st. . . . The Padres have had nine players on the disabled list this season, two more than they had on the disabled list in the previous three seasons combined.