NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Astros Squander Their Chance

The Houston Astros lost their chance to take the National League 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, 8-6, on Thursday at Houston.

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.”

The crowd of 25,379 cheering the Astros’ comeback attempt and left quietly after the loss.

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

“I thought the home run was a spark and that we’d come back and win it,” Bass said. “It’s not disappointing to me personally, it’s that we gave up first place after making such a run for it.”

Bagwell, leading the majors with 116 RBIs, 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’m happy with my season,” Gwynn said. “I hope I’m not done for the year. I hope I get a chance to add those six extra points to my average.”

Atlanta 13, Colorado 0--Greg Maddux earned his 16th victory, pitching 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. That’s an average of 58,598 and is 19,716 ahead of last year’s pace, when they set an all-time attendance record with 4.5 million.

Despite the one-sided outcome, fans appeared to be more upset with the impending strike. They displayed anti-strike signs reading: “Players R Wrong,” “Shut Up and Play Ball,” “Field of Greed” and “Say It Ain’t So.”

Fred McGriff hit his 34th homer and David Justice hit his 19th and drove in four runs as the Braves pounded out 20 hits.

Maddux (16-6) allowed only one ball out of the infield in the first seven innings--Howard Johnson’s popup to short left field.

Maddux, trying to become the first pitcher in history to win three consecutive Cy Young awards, lowered his major league-leading earned-run average to 1.56 with his third shutout.