National League Roundup : Garvey’s Three RBIs Keep Padres’ Hopes Alive

Lately, Steve Garvey has been talking about quitting when his contract with the San Diego Padres runs out after next season. First, though, the veteran first baseman wants to do his part in keeping the Padres’ hopes alive in the National League West.

Garvey had his fourth consecutive two-hit game Sunday at San Diego and drove in three runs to lead the Padres to a 5-1 victory over the Houston Astros. After losing two of three to the Astros, the Padres are 7 1/2 games back of the leaders of the West.

Graig Nettles and Garvey hit back-to-back home runs in a three-run second inning, and Garvey singled home two more runs in the eighth.

Andy Hawkins, who opened last season by winning his first 11 decisions, finally climbed over .500 this season (8-7). He went 7 innings, giving up seven hits and striking out six. Rich Gossage bailed Hawkins out in the eighth and went on to pick up his 18th save.

Garvey is 8 for 16 and has driven in seven runs in the last four games.

“We went out there knowing we couldn’t afford to be swept by the Astros,” Garvey said. “This is still a wide-open race. If the Dodgers knock them off this week, the Astros might be in trouble.”

The Astros, who remained four games ahead of second-place San Francisco, come to Los Angeles for three games with the red-hot Dodgers as the drama unfolds in the West.

Atlanta 4, San Francisco 2--Dale Murphy, whose off season is a main reason why the Braves are last in the West, drove in two runs at San Francisco with a pair of singles, and the Braves ended their four-game losing streak.

David Palmer held the Giants to four hits in seven innings, and Gene Garber finished up to get his 14th save.

Murphy, who has hit at least 36 home runs and driven in at least 100 runs in each of the last four seasons, entered the game with 15 home runs and 40 runs batted in.

It has gotten so bad for Murphy that the Giants gave an intentional walk to Ken Oberkfell with a man on second in the seventh inning to set up a double-play possibility. Murphy responded with a run-scoring single, and it was enough to give the Braves the win.

“I’m not surprised,” Murphy said. “I’ve left a lot of guys on base. I don’t think I’ve played very well all the way around.”

The Giants are four back of Houston, the Braves 11 1/2.

New York 4, Montreal 3--In the middle of June, Ray Knight thought he had as good a chance as anyone to win the batting title. He was hitting .339 and was within a point or two of the top.

The Met third baseman then went into a terrible tailspin, his average fell to .282 and he forgot about a batting title.

Knight, having emerged from his slump, is once again getting big hits for the runaway leaders of the East. He had to win this one at New York twice.

Knight doubled in two runs in the eighth inning to give the Mets a 3-1 lead. But the Expos knocked out Bob Ojeda, who had a no-hitter for 6 innings, and scored twice to send the game into extra innings.

In the 10th, with two out and the count 0 and 2, Knight looped a Tim Burke pitch down the right-field line to score Wally Backman from second and complete a sweep of the three-game series.

“Every year I’ve had one big slump and it’s cost me an outstanding season,” Knight said. “It happened again, but I’m hitting again.”

In the last six games, he is 10 for 21 and has raised his average to .292.

A couple of weeks ago, the Expos thought they still had a chance to catch the Mets. Injuries depleted the ranks, and the Expos now are third, 18 1/2 games behind the Mets.

Pittsburgh 3, St. Louis 0--The two people who kept the faith with Rick Reuschel were rewarded with a sharp performance at Pittsburgh.

The 37-year-old Reuschel, who lost seven in a row from early June until mid-July, pitched a six-hitter and improved his record to 7-12 with only his third complete game.

The only people who didn’t give up on the aging pitcher were Manager Jim Leyland and Reuschel himself. Of course, with a last-place club, Leyland didn’t have much choice but to stick with last year’s 14-game winner.

“I didn’t pitch any different than I did when I was losing all those games,” Reuschel said. “It’s just that the Cardinals were hitting the ball at guys. The guys played good defense behind me.”

Philadelphia 6, Chicago 2--Mike Schmidt’s three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning at Philadelphia was the decisive hit, but a defensive play a few minutes earlier by center fielder Jeff Stone was almost as important.

The Cubs had tied the score at 2-2 in the top of the inning and had the bases loaded with one out when Shawon Dunston hit a sinking liner to center. Stone, going full speed, picked the ball off his shoe tops, fired home and nailed Jody Davis trying to score from third after the catch.

“I knew it was going to be a play I had to make,” Stone said. “It seemed to give us a lift.”

Stone also started the winning rally with a one-out single. Juan Samuel also singled, and Schmidt unloaded his 24th home run, this one off Frank DiPino.