National League Roundup : Astros Beat the Giants, 13-10, and Tie the Giants

Bill Doran went 4 for 5 and hit his first career grand slam to pace an 18-hit attack and lead the Houston Astros to a 13-10 victory Tuesday night at San Francisco that moved the Astros into a second-place tie with the Giants in the National League West.

Both teams scored eight runs through four innings, but neither scored again until the eighth.

Pinch-hitter Gerald Young led off the Houston eighth with an infield single off losing pitcher Ron Davis (0-1). One out later, Doran singled Young to third.

Terry Puhl lined a single off the glove of third baseman Kevin Mitchell to make it 9-8. Buddy Bell then hit his fourth home run of the season to put the Astros ahead, 12-8.

Rafael Ramirez added a solo homer in the ninth for Houston.

The Giants, who had won six straight, scored twice in the ninth. Harry Spilman collected a run-scoring single, and Will Clark had a sacrifice fly.

Danny Darwin (5-9) held the Giants to 2 runs and 4 hits over 5 innings to earn the victory. Dave Smith recorded three outs for his 18th save.

The Giants roughed up Houston starter Bob Knepper for six runs in 1 innings. Knepper had lasted at least five innings in each of his previous 19 starts.

Philadelphia 2, St. Louis 0--The St. Louis Cardinals, the defending NL champions, dropped into the cellar of the East with a thud, courtesy of Philadelphia pitcher David Palmer.

Palmer, who pitched a five-inning perfect game at St. Louis in 1984, threw a one-hitter and his first shutout of the season in this victory at Busch Stadium.

“I could throw the same way against other teams and the balls find the holes,” said Palmer, who had given up 11 runs in his previous two starts. “Tonight, they were right at guys. Tonight, I just went right at the Cardinals. I didn’t fight myself.”

A leadoff single in the sixth inning by Tim Jones was the only hit off Palmer, who walked two and struck out six to improve to 10-4 lifetime against the Cardinals. Jones, a rookie second baseman, was a last-minute starter when Jose Oquendo left the stadium to be with his wife, who was expected to deliver twins.

Ozzie Smith was the only Cardinal to reach third base, walking with one out in the ninth, stealing second and advancing on a groundout.

“He was making a lot of good pitches,” Phillie pitching coach Claude Osteen said. “Of course, when you’re going against a team that isn’t hitting, it’s hard to tell.”

The decision broke the tie for fifth place in the East between the Phillies and the Cardinals. It was the second consecutive game that the Cardinals were shut out and the 13th time this season they have been blanked. Last year, they were shut out only five times.

St. Louis has scored one run in its last three games.

St. Louis starter Joe Magrane (1-5) pitched eight innings and allowed five hits while striking out a career-high seven. That Cardinals have scored just three runs in Magrane’s five losses, and have scored once in their last three games.

Pittsburgh 3, Montreal 2--Since it is sandwiched around two important four-game series against the division-leading New York Mets, the Pirates could have overlooked this three-game series against the Expos at Pittsburgh.

And for 9 1/2 innings, they almost did. But Jose Lind singled in the winning run as the Pirates rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to win.

Pinch-hitter Denny Gonzalez singled with one out in the 10th off Neal Heaton (3-7) to start the rally. Glenn Wilson then doubled, his first extra-base hit since being traded from Seattle on July 21. Barry Bonds singled to tie the score, and Andy McGaffigan relieved.

Lind then singled over Dave Martinez’s head in right, sending the Expos to their second loss in nine games and making Lind “the real hero of this game,” according to Bonds.

“This was an impressive win for us, the way it happened, with us battling back,” Pirate Manager Jim Leyland said.

Rex Hudler hit his first major league home run in the top of the inning to give Montreal a 2-1 lead. Hudler, in his 141st at-bat, hit a one-out fastball from Jim Gott (5-3), who relieved to open the inning. The Expos stranded 14 runners, including 11 in scoring position.

“We had jet lag until the 10th inning. But then we got our adrenaline going,” Wilson said. “That home run woke us up and made us realize what we had to do.”

New York 3, Chicago 1--Darryl Strawberry hit his league-leading 29th home run, and David Cone improved to 11-2 at New York as the Mets won for the sixth time in seven games.

Barry Lyons’ sixth-inning two-run triple broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Mets the victory.

Chicago’s Shawon Dunston singled in the third to end an 0-for-30 slump.

San Diego 4, Atlanta 1--Eric Show ran his career record against the Braves to 13-3 with the complete-game victory at San Diego.

John Kruk and Stan Jefferson hit solo home runs to support Show (8-10).

It was the eighth straight loss for the Braves.