Astros Continue Mastery of Padres

SAN DIEGO —  The Houston Astros improved to 7-0 against the San Diego Padres this season, winning Friday night, 5-1, behind another strong effort from Shane Reynolds.

Reynolds (13-7) held the Padres to an unearned run and five hits in eight innings, struck out nine and walked one. He beat the Padres for the third time in seven days, including the completion July 23 of the game that was suspended June 13 when Astro Manager Larry Dierker collapsed in the dugout.

San Diego has lost eight in a row.

Reynolds has allowed the Padres only one earned run in 23 innings this year. He also hit a sacrifice fly, while rookie Daryle Ward hit a two-run homer and Craig Biggio had a two-run double for the Astros.

Tony Gwynn went 0 for 3 with a sacrifice fly, all but dashing his hopes of getting his 3,000th hit at home. Gwynn is nine hits shy of the milestone, and after this three-game series, the Padres begin a three-city, 11-game trip to St. Louis, Montreal and New York. After hitting the sacrifice fly in the first, Gwynn grounded into two consecutive double plays.

The Padres defeated Houston in the first round of the National League playoffs last year and went on to reach the World Series, but they haven’t been able to beat the Astros since. The Astros swept two series in Houston and are two victories away from sweeping the season series.