National League Roundup : Astros Take Early Lead, Hold Off Padres, 3-2

Although they trail the Dodgers by 5 1/2 games, simple arithmetic tells the Houston Astros they can win the National League West without outside help.

The Astros open a three-game series at Dodger Stadium tonight, and 7 of their next 10 games are against the front-running Dodgers.

“We’re close enough where we can control our own destiny,” Astro second baseman Bill Doran said after his two-run homer in the first inning helped Houston score a 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres Thursday at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“We’re not in a situation yet where we have to have everyone’s help. We still have a lot of games left with (the Dodgers). If we do our jobs, we can close the margin down a little bit.”

The Astros took a 3-0 lead in the first inning against Eric Show (7-10).

Billy Hatcher led off the game with a double, and Doran followed with his sixth homer.

“It certainly wasn’t anything I was trying to do,” Doran said. “I was just trying to pull the ball on the ground to get Hatcher over to third base. It was a mistake, but I’ll take it.”

Terry Puhl followed with a single, and Kevin Bass walked. After a double steal, Puhl scored on a ground-out by Craig Reynolds.

The double steal gave Houston 154 stolen bases, tops in the majors.

Bob Knepper (11-3) pitched six innings, allowing seven hits, walking two and striking out three. Larry Andersen gave up two hits and struck out three in three innings to earn his fifth save.

The Padres’ runs were scored on singles by Randy Ready in the third and Dickie Thon in the sixth.

Cincinnati 5, Atlanta 2--Nick Esasky, trying to keep the Reds in the race by himself, hit a three-run home run with one out in the ninth inning, his third game-winning homer in the four-game series with the Braves at Atlanta.

With one out in the ninth, Eric Davis doubled off John Smoltz (1-1), and Paul O’Neill was walked intentionally. Esasky drove a 1-and-1 pitch over the left-field fence for his 10th homer of the season.

Esasky, who has hit 14 of his 91 career home runs in Atlanta, homered in the ninth inning of the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday and connected again in the ninth Wednesday night.

Frank Williams (1-1) earned the victory with a scoreless eighth. John Franco pitched the ninth to pick up his 21st save of the season and 12th this month.

The Braves took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on Lonnie Smith’s sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single by Bruce Benedict.

Jeff Treadway led off the Reds’ sixth with a triple and scored on Kal Daniels’ ground-out.

Cincinnati tied it in the seventh on Eric Davis’ 17th home run.

Chicago 7, Philadelphia 0--Calvin Schiraldi pitched a three-hitter for his first major league complete game, and Manny Trillo drove in two runs with a home run and a single as the Cubs snapped a three-game losing streak by downing the Phillies at Philadelphia.

Schiraldi (6-8) struck out four, walked four and did not allow a runner past second base. He gave up a single to Juan Samuel with one out in the sixth, a double to Mike Young in the seventh and a single to Mike Schmidt in the ninth.

Andre Dawson went 4 for 4 and has 15 hits in his last 25 at-bats.

Montreal 4, St. Louis 3--Graig Nettles, batting .148, drove in the winning run with a pinch single in the 10th inning, and the Expos defeated the Cardinals at Montreal.

The Expos beat the Cardinals at their own game, stealing six bases.