DODGER SCOUTING REPORT / SAN DIEGO : Reds Close Gap on Astros, Mets

Greg Vaughn hit his 42nd homer and the Cincinnati Reds held on to beat San Diego, 4-3, Wednesday night to gain a game on both teams they’re chasing in the playoff hunt.

Cincinnati closed within 2 1/2 games of both Houston in the NL Central and the New York Mets in the wild-card race. Houston lost, 3-2, at Pittsburgh and the Mets lost, 5-2, at Atlanta.

Ron Villone (9-7), who pitched for the Padres in parts of the 1995 and ’96 seasons, got the win in his first appearance against his old club. He was one of three players the Padres sent to Milwaukee on July 31, 1996, for Vaughn.

Vaughn, who helped lead the Padres to the 1998 World Series, helped spoil San Diego’s final home game of ’99. His two-run homer off Andy Ashby (14-10) with one out in the fifth inning gave the Reds a 4-1 lead.

The Padres pulled to 4-3 in the sixth. Damian Jackson, who came over from Cincinnati with Reggie Sanders in exchange for Vaughn on Feb. 2, hit an RBI double and then scored on consecutive throwing errors.

The first was Villone’s pickoff throw that sailed into center field, then Mike Cameron threw the ball away trying to get Jackson at third. It was Villone’s second error of the night on a pickoff attempt.

Danny Graves pitched two innings for his 25th save in 33 chances.

Villone gave up three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, struck out six and walked four.

The Reds scored two unearned runs in the second inning. Eddie Taubensee drove in one with a double and Pokey Reese scored from first when Ashby fielded Villone’s grounder and threw over the head of first baseman Wally Joyner for an error.