NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Rodriguez an Instant Hit in Montreal

In the eighth inning Wednesday night, Henry Rodriguez was talking with Expo teammate Moises Alou, and it wasn’t just a newcomer’s inquiry about good places to eat in Montreal.

“I said, ‘I think I’m going to get a single to the opposite field,’ ” Rodriguez said. “He said, ‘do whatever it takes to get on base.’ ”

Or better, to clear the bases.

In his debut with Montreal after being traded by the Dodgers, Rodriguez hit a two-out, two-run home run to rally the Expos over the San Diego Padres, 3-2.

Rodriguez’s homer off Andres Berumen (1-1) spoiled a strong outing by San Diego’s Joey Hamilton, who struggled in the first two innings and then retired 17 in a row.

Montreal didn’t have another baserunner until Jeff Treadway, also acquired in the Rodriguez trade from the Dodgers, reached on first baseman Eddie Williams’ throwing error in the eighth inning and scored on Wil Cordero’s single to make it 2-1. Hamilton was relieved by Berumen, who gave up Rodriguez’s home run.

Cincinnati 4, Houston 2--Hal Morris, who had not started since pulling a hamstring on May 14, had four hits, including a two-run homer, in a Reds’ victory at Cincinnati that completed a three-game sweep over the Astros.

It was the Reds’ 13th victory in 16 games.

Houston managed only four hits and one run in seven innings off Pete Schourek (2-2), who has given up only two earned runs in his last 22 innings.

Atlanta 9, St. Louis 5--Tom Glavine came into the game with a 16-plus earned-run average in the first inning, and made it worse.

His ERA after the first, less than 1.00, was helped when he retired 18 batters in a row in the Braves’ victory in St. Louis.

Glavine (3-1) took a 4-0 lead into the first, but walked the first three batters and gave up a two-run single to Todd Zeile and two-run double to Danny Sheaffer, the seventh batter of the inning.

It was Atlanta’s sixth victory in a row.

Philadelphia 2, San Francisco 1--Dave Gallagher, batting leadoff in place of ailing Len Dykstra, went three for three at Philadelphia and scored the winning run in the eighth inning for the Phillies, who won for the sixth time in seven games and 16th time in their last 19.

Gallagher scored on Gregg Jefferies’ groundout to make a winner of Norm Charlton (1-2), who pitched the eighth for his first major-league victory since May 30, 1993.

Heathcliff Slocumb worked the ninth to get his league-leading 12th save.

Chicago 5, Colorado 3--Shawon Dunston raced home with the go-ahead run on second baseman Roberto Mejia’s throwing error in the ninth inning, helping the Cubs win in Denver.

Frank Castillo (3-1) pitched eight innings to win. Randy Myers pitched the ninth for his 10th save.