National League Roundup : Padres Cut the Giants Down to Size Again, 3-1

In the three-game series concluded Wednesday afternoon at San Francisco, the Giants outscored the San Diego Padres, 19-7, but they lost the series, 2-1.

After the Giants humiliated the Padres, 18-1, Monday and pounded out 21 hits, the Padre pitching staff took charge of the series.

In the final, Dave Dravecky gave up nine hits in 7 innings to gain the victory as the Padres eked out a 3-1 victory. They needed four pitchers to win it and they needed three Tuesday night to get a 3-0 win.

Dravecky won his own game. With runners on second and third in the fourth, he singled in two runs and the Padres were home free.

Rich Gossage saved both games, although he gave up a run in the ninth inning Wednesday when Rob Thompson hit his third home run of the season. Otherwise the Giant hitters were frustrated at every turn.

With Houston losing, the Giants remained one-half game in front in the West, but the Padres are moving up. They trail the Giants by only 1 1/2 games. From top to bottom, there are only 7 1/2 games separating the teams in the West.

The Padres beat an old nemesis, Vida Blue, although they didn’t really hammer the veteran left-hander. Blue was 11-1 lifetime against the Padres. He gave up just four hits in seven innings and only two runs were earned, but he still came up the loser.

“I’m really proud of the way this team bounced back after that first game,” Manager Steve Boros said. “We went on the road and won five out of six in Los Angeles and here. That’s how you get into the pennant race.

“We have Dravecky and Eric (Show) pitching well. If we can just get a couple more going, we will be tough to beat.”

A sidelight of the series has been the battle for the league batting lead. The Giants’ Chris Brown went 3 for 4 to take over the top spot with .348. Tony Gwynn went 2 for 3, but he trails at .344.

“I’m not thinking about the batting race,” Gwynn said. “Unless the thing helps the club win, a batting title doesn’t mean much. But it would be nice to get a second one,” added Gwynn who won with a .351 average in 1984.

Cincinnati 4, Houston 3--Dave Parker singled with two out in the 10th inning at Houston to drive in Tracy Jones from second with the winning run and prevent the Astros from moving back into first place in the West.

The Reds jumped in front, 3-1, in the fourth with the help of two Houston errors.

But, in the bottom of the inning, Glenn Davis doubled and scored on a single by Kevin Bass. Bass went all the way to third on a throwing error by Tony Perez and scored the tying run on Dickie Thon’s infield hit.

Bob Knepper, who became a 10-game winner on June 10, failed for the third time to win his 11th for the Astros. In another solid performance, he gave up nine hits, struck out six and didn’t walk a batter in nine innings.

New York 5, Montreal 2--It wasn’t exactly a must-win game, but it was important the Mets salvage one game at home against the Expos.

Sid Fernandez (9-2) gave up six hits and five walks in six innings, but won his fourth in a row. George Foster hit his 12th home run and Kevin Mitchell had three hits.

“At no time do we want any club to sweep us,” Manager Davey Johnson said, “especially the second place team.”

The victory raised the Mets’ lead in the East to nine games, which puts them farther in front of second place Montreal than the Astros are of last-place Cincinnati in the West.

“We wanted a sweep,” Manager Bob Rodgers of the Expos said. “But we won back-to-back series from the Mets, so maybe we can cut more into the lead.”

Chicago 10, Philadelphia 7--Shawon Dunston drove in three runs at Philadelphia, two of them with a double in a four-run sixth inning rally that carried the Cubs to victory.

The Phillies had a 5-3 lead going into the sixth, but rookie Dave Martinez doubled in two runs to tie it and Dunston put the Cubs in front to stay.

There were 25 hits in the game, 14 by the Cubs.

St. Louis 2, Pittsburgh 1--Ever since his son was born June 16, Tommy Herr has had a rebirth as a hitter. He had two more hits in this game at St. Louis, including a single in the 10th that helped the Cardinals win their sixth in a row.

Herr is 16 for 30 (.533). With Vince Coleman on second in the 10th, Herr hit a soft fly to right for a single and when Joe Orsulak’s throw home hit first baseman Sid Bream’s leg, Coleman scored the winning run.