NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Giants Lose Third Straight, 4-0

After last Saturday’s action, the San Francisco Giants seemed ready to take command of the National League West.

They had cut a 14 1/2-game lead to 3 1/2 and the Cincinnati Reds appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

Just a few days later, it is the Giants who seem to be falling apart and the Reds have increased their lead to six games.

Mark Portugal reached his high mark of the season against the Giants Tuesday night at Houston. Portugal (5-9) gave up five hits in 7 2/3 innings and struck out a career high eight in the Astros’ 4-0 victory.

The Giants’ skid began Sunday, in a 12-6 loss to the Dodgers, and now their bats have stopped booming.

Monday night against Bill Gullickson, the Giants managed to score one run.

The big three in the middle, Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell and Matt Williams have suddenly lost power and the Giants are suffering.

For the season the three have hit 61 home runs and driven in 219 runs. In the last two games they are a combined 5 for 24 without a home run or an RBI. Clark has not hit a home run in his last 108 at-bats. It’s the longest Clark has ever gone without hitting one.

Giant starter John Burkett (10-4) pitched brilliantly. He retired the first nine Astros before Eric Yelding singled to open the fourth. Yelding eventually scored on Franklin Stubbs’ sacrifice fly. It was the only run Burkett gave up on four hits in seven innings.

A passed ball and a wild pitch helped the Astros break it open with three in the eighth.

“If we play a little better than a high school team they don’t score in the eighth,� Giant Manager Roger Craig said. “All we had to do is play the way we normally do. We wasted a good pitching performance.�

The Astros’ Bill Doran was two for three and is 14 for 26 in a seven-game hitting streak.

Pittsburgh 4, Montreal 3--Instead of the New York Mets pulling away in the East, it’s the Pirates who have been hot, winning six of their last seven.

In this game at Pittsburgh, the Pirates won in the 12th, as Jose Lind opened the inning with a double, went to third on a bunt and scored standing up on Jay Bell’s long fly to right.

Sid Bream homered in the eighth to give the Pirates, who are 51-1 in games they lead after eight, a 3-2 lead. But an error by third baseman Jeff King with two out in the ninth enabled the Expos to tie.

Philadelphia 9, New York 0--Rookie Jose DeJesus allowed just two hits at New York and pitched his first shutout as the Mets lost their fourth in a row.

Maybe it was because the start was delayed 100 minutes because of rain, but Frank Viola, going for his 16th victory, had one of his worst outings.

He gave up six runs on eight hits in 5I innings.

Viola would have had to be at his best just to stay even with DeJesus. He gave up a single to Daryl Boston in the second and another to Darryl Strawberry in the seventh.

Chicago 5, St. Louis 3--Ryne Sandberg hit just his second home run since the All-Star break, but it came at an opportune time at Chicago.

Sandberg hit the home run after Jerome Walton reached on an error and his 26th homer broke the 3-3 tie.

The home run was off Scott Terry (1-6) and was not unexpected. Sandberg is seven for 15 (.467) against Terry and four of the hits have been home runs.

San Diego 7-11, Atlanta 2-9--Everybody else is picking on the hapless Braves, so why not the surging Padres.

Despite three home runs by Dave Justice, the heir to Dale Murphy’s right-field post, the Padres swept the doubleheader at Atlanta. They have now won 12 of their last 16 games.

A sparkling performance by Andy Benes (8-8) was the highlight of the opener. In the nightcap, the Padres built an 11-2 lead before the Braves rallied.