National League Roundup : Astros Slam the Door on 10-1 Homestand by Beating Braves, 10-6

The Houston Astros are feeling right at home these days, in the Astrodome and in first place.

The Astros, who struggled under the Dome earlier this season, wrapped up a 10-1 homestand when Bill Doran hit a grand slam in a seven-run second inning to lead a 10-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves Sunday.

Houston has won six straight games and 16 of 17 to take a one-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants in the NL West.

“I haven’t seen the emotions this high around here for a long time,” Doran said.

“The thing that sticks out in my mind about this streak is that we never quit. We had no business winning some of these games, but we kept battling. It has been exciting and interesting. There’s no way you can anticipate games going like these have.”

The big homestand, which tied a club record for wins, included four extra-inning victories.

The Astros, who have a 17-7 road record, best in the majors, start a 12-game trip Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

“We have to continue to score early and give our pitchers something to work with,” Manager Art Howe said. “If we can continue to do that, we’ll be all right.”

Jim Deshaies (7-3) won for the sixth time in seven decisions, allowing four runs and seven hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked two. Danny Darwin, the fifth Astro pitcher, got the final two outs for his second save.

Atlanta’s Tom Glavine (6-3) gave up seven runs and seven hits in 1 1/3 innings.

San Francisco 3, San Diego 1--Will Clark hit a two-out, two-run homer off Mark Davis in the 12th inning to lift the Giants past the Padres at San Francisco.

San Diego, which has lost six straight and nine of 10 on this trip, had a 1-0 lead before Giant rookie Greg Litton hit a lead-off homer in the ninth. The Padres have scored three runs in their last 30 innings.

With two out in the 12th, Robby Thompson singled to deep shortstop off Davis (2-3). Clark hit the next pitch for his 11th home run. Rich Gossage (1-0) pitched the 12th for his first win as a Giant.

Jack Clark struck out five times, one short of the major league record for extra-inning games.

New York 6, Pittsburgh 1--Bob Ojeda pitched a six-hitter and Len Dykstra hit a two-run homer as the Mets ended a three-game losing streak by beating the Pirates at Pittsburgh.

Dave Magadan added a two-run single and Darryl Strawberry singled in a run as the Mets knocked out Brian Fisher (0-3) in the second inning.

Howard Johnson hit his 15th homer, his fourth in five games.

Ojeda (3-6) struck out three, walked two and retired 15 consecutive batters at one point. He has a 9-4 record against the Pirates.

St. Louis 10, Chicago 7--Ozzie Smith had the first five-hit game of his career and the Cardinals rallied for eight runs in the seventh inning to beat the Cubs at Chicago for their fifth consecutive victory.

The Cardinals trailed, 4-2, before getting 10 hits in the seventh off four Cub pitchers, and the eight runs were their most since June 16, 1987, when they scored nine in an inning against Pittsburgh. Calvin Schiraldi (1-4) allowed the first three runs and took the loss.

Tom Brunansky drove in three runs in the seventh with a two-run homer and an RBI single. Smith and Pedro Guerrero also had two hits in the inning.

Cris Carpenter (2-4) got the victory with three innings of relief.

Montreal 7, Philadelphia 2--Pascual Perez allowed three hits in eight innings and Tim Wallach drove in three runs to lead the Expos past the Phillies for a three-game sweep at Montreal.

The victory moved the Expos to within two percentage points of first place Chicago in the NL East. Philadelphia, which has lost 14 of 17 games, was outscored, 21-3, in the series.

Perez (3-7) struck out five and walked five as Montreal won for the 13th time in 19 games.