NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Astros Squander Their Chance

The Houston Astros lost their chance to take the Central lead on the last day before the strike deadline.

The Astros, playing their first game since Jeff Bagwell broke a bone in his left hand, fell to the San Diego Padres on Thursday at Houston, 8-6.

They remained one-half game behind the Cincinnati Reds, who lost to the Dodgers, 2-0.

“L.A. did their job and we came up short,” Astro Manager Terry Collins said. “We had to win this game and we didn’t. But we’re staying positive. I still believe this race will be decided the final week of the season when we play the Reds here in the Astrodome.”

Kevin Bass’ three-run homer in the seventh inning got the Astros close, but they fell short.

Bagwell will be sidelined three to five weeks after breaking his hand when he was hit by a pitch from Andy Benes on Wednesday.

Tony Gwynn, trying to become baseball’s first .400 hitter since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941, went three for five and raised his average to .394. He needed a six-for-six performance to reach .400.

“I hope I’m not done for the year,” Gwynn said. “I hope I get a chance to add those six extra points to my average.”

Atlanta 13, Colorado 0--Greg Maddux pitched a three-hit shutout in what might have been the last baseball game at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

The Rockies, who will move to Coors Field next April, drew 65,043 to raise their major league-leading total to 3,281,511.

Fred McGriff hit his 34th homer and David Justice hit his 19th and had four RBIs for the Braves, who had 20 hits.

Maddux (16-6), trying to become the first pitcher to win three consecutive Cy Young awards, lowered his major league-leading earned-run average to 1.56.

Pittsburgh 4, Montreal 0--Zane Smith, who hadn’t won since July 6, shut down the Expos on five hits at Pittsburgh.

Smith (10-8) didn’t resemble the pitcher who hadn’t won in six starts, retiring 21 hitters on ground balls. He didn’t strike out a batter but walked only two.

Andy Van Slyke, in the final year of his contract, had a run-scoring single in possibly his last game for the Pirates.

Philadelphia 2, New York 1--Only about 5,000 of a crowd of 37,605 were left at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia when Billy Hatcher scored the winning run on Ricky Jordan’s single in the bottom of the 15th inning.

Hatcher opened the inning with a bunt single and moved to third on a wild pitch by Mauro Gozzo (3-5) and Kevin Stocker’s flyout. Pinch-hitter John Kruk and Lenny Dykstra were intentionally walked and, one out later, Jordan singled down the third-base line.

St. Louis 8, Florida 6--Tom Pagnozzi hit a home run for the third consecutive game and teammates Mark Whiten, Ray Lankford and Bernard Gilkey also homered for the Cardinals at Miami.

The game was called in the top of the eighth inning after a 79-minute rain delay.