NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Suddenly, Cincinnati’s Lead Isn’t So Big

The Cincinnati Reds have given the other teams in the West reason to hope.

Casey Candaele broke a seventh-inning tie with a run-scoring triple as the Houston Astros beat the Reds, 4-2, Sunday at Houston to send the suddenly-slumping Reds to their sixth loss in seven games.

It was the Astros’ third consecutive victory over the Reds after losing the opening game of the series on Thursday.

The first-place Reds won 17 of their first 21 road games, but have lost eight of their last 12 away from Riverfront Stadium.

Second-place San Diego is only 5 1/2 games behind Cincinnati. The Dodgers are 8 1/2 back. San Francisco is 9 1/2 behind.

“The roof caved in. I’m glad this road trip is over,” Manager Lou Piniella said. “I don’t like losing six of seven, but we are fortunate we built a big early season lead.”

The Reds’ biggest lead had been nine games.

“We wasted some of it, but there is a lot of baseball to go,” Piniella said. “I said that a week ago when everyone was conceding the pennant to us.”

“It’s not easy being on the road as much as we have,” Piniella said. “It caught up with us in San Francisco and here. It’s time for us to go home and regroup and do the things we did earlier in the season.”

Danny Darwin (2-1) gave up only one hit in three innings of relief to get the victory.

With the score 2-2 in the seventh, Rich Gedman reached on a fielding error by second baseman Mariano Duncan and Eric Yelding ran for him. Candaele then hit a drive down the right-field line off starter Jack Armstrong (8-3) to score the go-ahead run.

Houston took a 2-0 lead in the first on Franklin Stubb’s two-run homer, his sixth. Stubbs’ homer was the first yielded this season by Armstrong.

New York 8, Pittsburgh 3--Darryl Strawberry, breaking out of a season-long slump, hit his fourth homer in three games and drove in four runs to lead the Mets at New York.

The Mets won three of four from first-place Pittsburgh to move to within 6 1/2 games of the Pirates. In their last three games, all victories, the Mets scored 24 runs and had 35 hits.

With Pittsburgh leading, 2-0, Walt Terrell (2-5) walked Dave Magadan with one out in the fourth inning and Gregg Jefferies followed with a bloop single to left for the Mets’ first hit. Strawberry then hit his 12th homer of the season.

Strawberry, who hit only five homers in his first 40 games, has seven in his last 13. In his last 17 games, he has eight homers and 16 RBIs.

Chicago 7, Philadelphia 3--Joe Girardi hit his first home run since last June 29 to help the Cubs win their third consecutive game at Chicago for the first time this season.

Girardi’s homer, a two-run shot, capped a four-run second inning. Andre Dawson got the inning started with his 16th homer and Mark Grace had a run-scoring single.

It was another good day for Len Dykstra, though. Dykstra, the leading hitter in the majors, extended his hitting streak to 23 games with a fourth-inning RBI single. He trails Chuck Klein by three games for the longest hitting streak in Phillie history since 1900.

Dykstra went two for five and is batting .407. During the streak he is 42 for 98 (.429). With men in scoring position, he is hitting .478 (22 for 46).

“He’s a human machine who never gives up,” Phillie Manager Nick Leyva said of his center fielder.

In his last 10 games, Grace has reached base safely 19 times in 34 plate appearances (13 hits, six walks) to raise his average from .258 to .285.

Steve Wilson gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings for his first victory in five decisions this season.

Wilson, who had not won since last Sept. 24 against Pittsburgh, got off to a shaky start by yielding Charlie Hayes’ two-run homer in the first inning. In his previous five starts, Wilson had a 6.04 earned-run average.

San Francisco 9, Atlanta 3--Matt Williams made it easy for rookie John Burkett.

Williams capped a four-run, first-inning with a three-run homer to give Burkett a lead that never was threatened as the Giants beat the Braves at Atlanta for their eighth victory in nine games.

“When I get those runs in the first inning I come out fired up,” Burkett said. “I don’t want to win 9-6 or 9-7, I want to win 9-0. I want a shutout.”

Burkett (6-1), who retired 10 in a row during one stretch, gave up five hits, walked one and struck out seven in eight innings.

The victory was Burkett’s fourth in a row. His only loss was a 2-1 decision to Philadelphia May 11.

“He’s done it every game he’s pitched,” Giant Manager Roger Craig said. “He pitches like a veteran.”

St. Louis 5, Montreal 3--Joe Magrane won for only the third time this season as the Cardinals avoided a four-game sweep at Montreal.

Magrane, who was 18-9 in 1989, walked five and gave up seven hits in 6 2/3 innings to improve to 3-8. He struck out seven en route to his first victory since beating Cincinnati May 20.

Bryn Smith, another struggling Cardinal starter, got one out in the seventh and Lee Smith pitched the final two innings for his sixth save.

The Cardinals bunched four consecutive hits off Oil Can Boyd (3-3) in the fourth inning to take a 3-0 lead.

Willie McGee singled and moved to third on Pedro Guerrero’s double. Terry Pendleton and Walling followed with RBI singles and Jose Oquendo added a sacrifice fly.