NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Padres Narrow Gap in Race for NL West

Joey Hamilton bounced back from a shaky start and the San Diego Padres defeated the Expos, 9-5, Saturday night at Montreal to move to within three games of the first-place Dodgers in the National League West.

Brad Ausmus drove in three runs, Steve Finley and Ken Caminiti each had three hits and scored twice and Scott Livingstone hit a two-run homer. The Padres, who have won nine of their last 12 games, are two games behind second-place Colorado and 4 1/2 games behind Houston for the wild-card spot.

“Winning our division is more attainable than the wild card,” Ausmus said. “We’re ready and poised to make a run for it.”

Hamilton (6-5) pitched 7 2/3 innings and gave up nine hits, struck out six and walked three.

Expo starter Gil Heredia (4-6) faced only eight batters in one-plus innings and gave up four runs on six hits.

St. Louis 5, Atlanta 4--Scott Hemond hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, the only scoring after an 82-minute rain delay, and the Cardinals won at St. Louis.

The score was tied at 4 after three innings when the game was interrupted by rain. Neither starting pitcher, John Smoltz of Atlanta or Donovan Osborne of St. Louis, returned after the delay.

Hemond connected against Matt Murray (0-1).

Chicago 6, Colorado 5--Sammy Sosa homered for the third consecutive day and the Cubs held off the Rockies at Denver.

Sosa’s three-run shot in the fifth, his team-leading 23rd, made it 5-2.

Dante Bichette hit his NL-leading 30th homer for the Rockies, who also got home runs from Andres Galarraga and Vinny Castilla.

Frank Castillo (8-6) gave up all three solo home runs by the Rockies. He gave up eight hits in 7 2/3 innings. Randy Myers relieved to start the ninth got his 28th save.

Cincinnati 8, Houston 0--Resurgent Dave Burba pitched a two-hitter and Hal Morris had three hits, leading the Reds at Cincinnati.

Burba (8-2), a set-up man with the San Francisco Giants for the first half of the season, didn’t give up a hit until Derrick May doubled to right field with two outs in the seventh. Brian Hunter singled in the ninth.

Houston has lost all nine games this season against the Reds.

Burba walked four and struck out three in his first complete game in 22 major league starts.

Pittsburgh 10, Florida 5--Angelo Encarnacion hit his first major league homer, a two-run, inside-the-park grounder down the third-base line that helped the Pirates win at Pittsburgh.

Kevin Young also hit a two-run homer as the Pirates overcame a 4-1 deficit and beat the Marlins for the third time in two nights.

Carlos Garcia hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh off Randy Veres (4-3) and added a run-scoring single in the ninth.

Jeff McCurry (1-4) got his first major league victory with three innings of relief.

Philadelphia 6, San Francisco 4--Mickey Morandini’s solo homer in the bottom of the seventh inning broke a tie and the Phillies won at Philadelphia.

Matt Williams returned to the Giants’ lineup and grounded out in a pinch-hitting appearance in the eighth inning. He had been on the disabled list since June 4 because of a broken foot.

Ricky Botallico (4-3) pitched two scoreless innings for the victory, and Heathcliff Slocumb worked the ninth for his 28th save.