NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Reds Are Beneficiaries of Gant’s Hitting Now

In a way, the Reds knew what they were getting.

In a way they didn’t.

Ron Gant hadn’t played baseball in a year because of a motorcycle accident that resulted in a broken leg, but he hadn’t forgotten how.

Gant homered in the sixth inning to tie the game Monday night, then led off the bottom of the 10th with his third game-winning homer of the season, giving the Reds a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros at Cincinnati.

Gant has eight homers and 27 runs batted in less than a month into the season. He has four game-winning hits in the last nine games, including three game-winning homers in extra innings.

His latest came on a hanging 0-and-1 pitch from Dave Veres (1-1), who had a streak of 17 1/3 scoreless innings. The entire Houston bullpen had been perfect lately, the only relief corps in the NL without a loss. Collectively, it also hadn’t given up a run in 17 1/3 innings.

Gant took care of that by pulling a ball just inside the left-field foul screen, giving the Reds their 11th victory in 14 games.

“He’s hitting the ball the way he used to hit against us,” Red Manager Davey Johnson said. “We tried to get him out and we never could.”

This is what the Reds hoped for when they signed Gant, who had been let go by the Atlanta Braves. It’s what Gant spent months working toward.

“It’s all starting to come together now,” Gant said. “I feel the more I’m out there, I’ll get closer to the way I was.”

Jeff Brantley (2-0) retired all five batters he faced to help the Reds get their fifth victory in six extra-inning games.

Colorado 9, Chicago 8--Roberto Mejia broke an 0-for-12 slump and an 8-8 tie when he slapped a run-scoring single off Randy Myers with one out in the ninth inning for the Rockies at Denver.

Mejia’s hit capped a two-run rally. Dante Bichette led off the inning with a single against Mike Perez, bringing on Myers (0-1). After Bichette was sacrificed to second, he scored the tying run on Vinny Castilla’s double.

Jason Bates walked and Mejia, pinch-hitting, singled to center field to snap Chicago’s three-game winning streak.

Montreal 5, Florida 2--Carlos Perez gave up two runs in the first inning, then one-hit the Marlins over the next six to lead the Expos to a victory at Montreal.

The Expos snapped a four-game losing streak. The Marlins’ win streak was extended to six.

Perez (3-0) retired 17 of the 18 batters he faced after Terry Pendleton’s two-run single with one out in the first inning had given Florida a 2-0 lead.

NL Notes

Looking to pump up their sagging attendance, the San Francisco Giants have offered free upper reserved tickets for children 14 and under for every upper reserved ticket bought by an adult throughout the summer. . . . The Cincinnati Reds called up reliever Johnny Ruffin from triple-A Indianapolis and designated reliever Mike Remlinger for assignment.