Streaking Padres Win Sixth in a Row on Jones’ Two-Hitter

Padre pitcher Jimmy Jones threw a two-hitter against the Atlanta Braves Monday night, his team won 2-0, and this morning there are all sorts of little statistics just dying to parade about.

Jones faced only 30 batters, three more than the minimum, finishing the game in a major league-tying season low 1 hour 58 minutes. Only four batters reached base, one on an intentional walk, another on an error.

Jones threw first-pitch strikes to 19 batters. He went as far as three balls on only four batters.

But there are stats, and then there are stats.

Here’s the amazing stuff about Jones and the Padres sixth-straight win, which tied a season high: Manager Larry Bowa didn’t once charge the pitching mound and threaten to turn Jones into either a resin bag or a left-hander.

Not once in Bowa’s postgame talk about Jones did he mention the words “mental” or “toughness,” or both, consecutively, in the same angry sentence. In fact, Bowa talked for 15 minutes about Jones without once opening his hand to discover a fistful of his hair.

“It’s like tonight Jimmy said ‘Hey, I can pitch here,’ ” said Bowa, smiling. “I don’t know if he’s just teasing me or what.”

Said Jones, who had gone no farther than 6 innings in any of his previous 11 starts: “Aw, he really doesn’t yell that much at me out there. His head bobs around, but that’s just how he expresses himself. But it is nice that he wasn’t out there tonight. That means I was doing the job.”

Jones has brought the Padres to within 4 1/2 games of the fifth-place Braves and Dodgers, with three games remaining against the Braves in this home stand. But Bowa or anyone will tell you, when you’re on the bottom, you take life just one rung at a time. And how much fun last night’s step proved to be.

“A lot of guys were saying that I couldn’t get past the fifth or sixth inning because of something mental,” said Jones. “I say it was just physical. Tonight I had my changeup, which I had not had all year. It gave me a third pitch, and got me through the middle innings. Then the final ones were a breeze.”

In improving his record to 5-4 with a 4.34 earned-run average, Jones retired the game’s first 10 hitters, which is no big deal for Jones. It’s the second 10 that always get him.

“It got real quiet in the dugout,” said Bowa. “Everybody wanted to see him get over that hump.”

With one out in the fourth the hump nearly suffocated him. Ken Oberkfell punched a single to left. Gerald Perry then followed with a single to right, and it’s usually about that point that Bowa charges the mound.

Except Jones found something to get Dale Murphy to chop one high in front of the plate. Jones picked it up and threw Murphy out at first. After intentionally walking Ken Griffey, he then got Paul Runge to ground the ball to third baseman Chris Brown to end the inning.

That done, Jones retired the next 10 hitters, and 14 of the final 15.

All it took was a two-run homer by Benito Santiago in the seventh off a strong Doyle Alexander, who allowed three hits in seven innings, for the win. Not to mention the surprise.

“I’m not a told-you-so type person,” said Jones. “I just want to prove myself to everyone through my actions, not my mouth. I hope tonight helps.

Padres Notes

Pitcher Storm Davis has agreed to one more minor league rehabilitation assignment before coming off the disabled list. He will throw Wednesday for Class-A Reno, then return for a final examination, probably joining the Padres for the Aug. 18-23 trip to Philadelphia and New York. “I’m ready to go now,” said Davis, whose permission was needed before a second minor league start. “But it was a joint decision, and I’ll do anything I can to help the club.” Davis, who has been on the 15-day list since June 29 with torn cartilage in the left rib-cage area, has already made one start, for Double-A Wichita in the Texas League. He allowed three runs on four hits in four innings, but none of the runs was earned. When he rejoins the Padres, there is no certainty that a pitcher will be sent down. Because of the August heat, and the fact that his club is going through pitchers like sanitary socks, Bowa might keep 11 pitchers.