Hermanson Has Padres’ Number

In the middle of a pitchers’ duel, it was Dustin Hermanson’s bat that was the difference.

Hermanson limited San Diego to three hits in 7 2/3 innings and hit his second career home run as the Montreal Expos, despite striking out 17 times, defeated the Padres at San Diego, 3-1, on Saturday.

“You can have as many strikeouts as you want, but I tell you, you just have to get the guys out anyway,” Hermanson said.

“I mixed a few strikeouts in. But I just wanted to put the ball in play. I have eight guys behind to me to make the outs.”

Sterling Hitchcock (8-6) was as dominating as Hermanson (12-10), as he struck out 15 over eight innings.

Hermanson gave up one run in with six strikeouts and two walks. Jim Leyritz ended his shutout bid with a two-out homer in the seventh.

A first-round draft choice of the Padres in 1994, Hermanson is 2-0 in two starts against the Padres this season and 4-1 in his career.

Montreal’s Vladimir Guerrero hit his 35th homer to move within one of the club’s single-season record set by Henry Rodriguez in 1996.

Cincinnati 7, Florida 5--The Marlins’ loss to the Reds at Cincinnati was their 89th, the most ever for a defending World Series champion.

The Reds improved to 8-0 against the Marlins this season and relinquished the record for most losses by a team a year after winning the World Series. The 1991 Reds lost 88 games a year after sweeping Oakland in the World Series.

Colorado 7, Chicago 3--Larry Walker and Kurt Abbott homered at Coors Field to back Bobby Jones, who pitched seven strong innings to end a three-game losing streak for the Rockies.

Sammy Sosa went one for four and failed to homer, remaining at 53.

Houston 6, Pittsburgh 3--Jose Lima struck out seven over 7 2/3 innings to defeat the Pirates at the Astrodome.

Bill Spiers added an inside-the-park home run for the Astros, who tied a club record for victories in a month with their 20th in August. The Astros are also 34 games above .500 for the first time in team history.

Arizona 4, Milwaukee 3--The Brewers’ Fernando Vina committed two errors in the ninth inning to allow the Diamondbacks to win at Phoenix.

The victory was only the second in 80 games for the Diamondbacks when trailing after eight innings.

Vina dropped the throw from Bob Wickman (6-8) on Devon White’s sacrifice bunt for his first error. Then he threw wildly to home to allow White to score the winning run.