National League Roundup : Davis Leads Reds Past Pirates, 5-4

Eric Davis moved into an exclusive neighborhood Monday night, while helping the Cincinnati Reds move up a notch.

Davis drove in four runs with a pair of homers to carry the Reds to a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Pittsburgh.

In the process, Davis joined Joe Morgan and Rickey Henderson as the only players in history to hit 20 home runs and steal 60 bases in the same season. Morgan and Henderson each have done it twice.

“That’s tremendous company to be in,” Davis said.

Davis, who also singled and stole a base, has 21 homers and 62 steals.

The victory pushed Cincinnati over the .500 mark for the first time since April. The Reds also moved into a second place tie with San Francisco in the West.

Both Davis’ homers came off Pirates starter Rick Rhoden, who hadn’t allowed a home run in 81 innings dating to July 2.

Davis’ first inning homer followed singles by Buddy Bell and Dave Parker. Rhoden retired 15 straight batters before Davis homered leading off the seventh.

The Reds broke a 4-4 tie in the eighth when Bell singled off Larry McWilliams (2-10) and went to third on a single by Davis. Reliever Barry Jones’ first pitch to Barry Larkin skipped away from catcher Tony Pena, allowing Bell to score.

Ron Robinson (9-3) worked 1 innings for the victory and John Franco pitched the ninth for his 22nd save as the Reds won for the seventh time in eight games.

Mike Diaz drove in three runs for Pittsburgh with a two-run single and his eighth home run.

Houston 3, Chicago 2--Craig Reynolds’ run-scoring single in the eighth inning at Houston pushed the Astros past the Cubs.

It was the 20th time this season Houston has gotten the winning run in its last time at bat, and put the Astros’ lead in the West at eight games over San Francisco and Cincinnati.

Charlie Kerfeld (8-2) worked the seventh and eighth innings to get the victory and Dave Smith pitched the ninth for his 26th save.

Chris Speier’s two-run homer in the sixth gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead, but Alan Ashby doubled home a run off Lee Smith (8-8) in the Houston eighth and scored on Reynolds’ single.

Atlanta 4, St. Louis 2--Dale Murphy hit a two-run double with two out in the eighth inning to give the Braves a victory over the Cardinals at St. Louis.

Murphy’s hit came off relief ace Todd Worrell, who couldn’t hold a 2-1 lead for Bob Forsch (12-8).

David Palmer (10-8) won his fifth straight decision, pitching four-hit ball for seven innings while striking out seven. Gene Garber got his 20th save.

New York 5, San Diego 2--Ray Knight’s two-out pinch single in the eighth drove in the winning run gave the Mets a victory over the Padres at New York.

Jesse Orosco (5-5), who relieved Ron Darling in the seventh, got the victory and Roger McDowell picked up his 17th save.

Howard Johnson doubled off Craig Lefferts (7-5) with one out in the eighth and Rafael Santana was walked intentionally before Knight broke a 2-2 tie. When Kevin McReynolds booted Knight’s hit, Santana came around to score.

The Mets scored in the ninth on Mookie Wilson’s run-scoring triple.

Montreal 6, San Francisco 5--Tom Foley drove in three runs to lead the Expos past the Giants at San Francisco.

Andy McGaffigan (8-4) pitched four innings of relief for the victory and Jeff Reardon went the ninth and got his 28th save.