NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Larkin Hits Three More Home Runs

Barry Larkin doesn’t consider himself a home run hitter and can’t explain his recent power surge.

“I’m really astonished,” Larkin said after he hit three consecutive homers to lead the Cincinnati Reds to an 8-5 victory over the Houston Astros Friday night at Cincinnati for their fifth victory in a row.

Larkin, who hit two home runs Thursday, tied a major league record by becoming the 16th player to hit five in two games.

Larkin hit a pair of two-run homers and a solo homer in his first three at-bats and drove in a run by hitting into a force play for a career-high six runs batted in. Larkin drew a walk in his final at-bat.

Jim Deshaies (2-7) also gave up a solo homer to Eric Davis, the second time in two years he has given up four homers in a game at Cincinnati. The Reds had four against the left-hander June 16, 1990, in a 6-2 victory.

Rafael Ramirez hit his first homer since last Aug. 8, but the four-homer burst was too much for the Astros to overcome.

“Larkin had a career night tonight,” Howe said. “If we could have gotten him out, we would have had a chance.”

The Reds’ four homers gave Tom Browning (10-4) a 6-4 lead after five innings. Houston knocked him out of the game in the sixth and cut the lead to one run on Craig Biggio’s RBI single against Ted Power.

St. Louis 14, Chicago 6--Cub Manager Jim Essian thought a long pregame pep talk would help his slumping team.

It didn’t. Felix Jose drove in three runs and had four of the Cardinals’ 21 hits at Chicago, sending the Cubs to their 12th defeat in 13 games.

After the game, Chicago fired pitching coach Dick Pole and replaced him with Billy Connors, the Cub pitching coach from 1982-86.

The victory was the fourth in a row for St. Louis.

Omar Olivares (1-1) won for the first time since Sept. 13, against Montreal, despite giving up five runs and nine hits in six innings.

The Cardinals got eight hits against Bob Scanlan (2-2) in 1 2/3 innings, added four runs and five hits against Shawn Boskie in 2 1/3 innings and seven hits and five runs against Mike Bielecki in two innings.

Philadelphia 6, New York 2--Jose DeJesus pitched a four-hitter at New York, enabling the Phillies to end a five-game losing streak.

DeJesus (5-3) is 4-0, including three complete games and his only shutout, with a 2.02 earned-run average against the Mets in his career. He is 8-12 with a 4.51 ERA and one complete game against everyone else.

Gregg Jefferies spoiled DeJesus’ shutout with a two-run homer in the ninth. It was Jefferies’ fifth homer and extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.

DeJesus, who walked four and struck out three, also hurt the Mets with his bat. He led off the third with a single and the Phillies went on to hit for the cycle in the inning, scoring four times for a 6-0 lead.

Charlie Hayes hit a three-run homer in the inning, John Kruk hit a triple that chased Ron Darling (4-5) and Mickey Morandini doubled. Dale Murphy added an RBI single on reliever Pete Schourek’s first pitch.

Pittsburgh 6, Montreal 1--Zane Smith ended his four-game losing streak by giving up five hits in eight-plus innings as the Pirates won their third in a row over the slumping Expos at Montreal.

The victory was Pittsburgh’s fourth in as many games at Olympic Stadium this season and sent the Expos to their fifth consecutive defeat. The Pirates have won six of seven games against Montreal.

Smith (8-6) struck out three and walked two. He was relieved by Stan Belinda after Marquis Grissom led off the bottom of the ninth with a single and Delino DeShields drew a walk.

Chris Haney (0-2), making his second major league start, gave up seven hits and two runs in six innings. He struck out six and walked two.

San Diego 5, San Francisco 3--Jerald Clark had a two-run single and a solo homer at San Diego as the Padres’ ended the Giants’ six-game winning streak.

Clark’s single capped a four-run fifth against Don Robinson (3-6).

Bruce Hurst (9-4) gave up five hits, including a three-run homer by Kevin Mitchell.