L.A. Beats Padres; Ready For Rockies

National League

Now, finally, the Los Angeles Dodgers can focus on the Colorado Rockies.

Hideo Nomo won his 12th game and helped out with his hitting, and Mike Piazza homered as the Dodgers beat the visiting San Diego Padres 6-2 Sunday, setting up the N.L.’s biggest series of the season.

The Dodgers remained a half-game behind firstplace Colorado in the N.L. West. The Rockies, 3-7 against Los Angeles this year, begin a three-game set at Dodger Stadium tonight.

“This is what we’ve all been waiting for, where we want to be, going head-to-head,” Piazza said. “Hopefully, we can play as well in this series as we have the last three games. We’re playing well right now. That’s a good sign.”

The Dodgers stayed 1-1/2 games ahead of Houston in the wild-card race.

The Dodgers took the lead for good over the Padres by scoring three runs off Willie Blair (7-5) in the third to overcome a 1-0 deficit. Nomo drove in one of the runs and scored another.

Rockies 3, Giants 1

San Francisco

Colorado held on to its slim lead in the N.L. West with a win over San Francisco as Armando Reynoso combined with two relievers on a fourhitter.

Astros 1, Cards 0, (10)

Houston

Milt Thompson scored on pitcher Rich DeLucia’s throwing error in the 10th inning, and Houston stayed close in the wild-card chase with the victory over St. Louis.

Braves 5, Expos 4, (10)

Atlanta

Mike Devereaux hit a two-out, two-run single in the 10th inning, rallying Atlanta over Montreal.

Reds 6, Phillies 4

Philadelphia

David Wells pitched eight effective innings and Mariano Duncan homered and drove in four runs against his former team, leading Cincinnati past Philadelphia.

Cubs 3, Pirates 2, (10)

Chicago

Brian McRae hit a home run off Dan Miceli with one out in the 10th inning as Chicago rallied for the victory over Pittsburgh.

Marlins 4, Mets 3

Miami

Rookie right fielder Alex Ochoa lost two routine fly balls on a sunny day and allowed both to drop, leading to all of Florida’s runs as it beat New York.

Deion’s done

Deion Sanders ended his baseball season a week early so he can have arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle and join the Dallas Cowboys as soon as possible.

The San Francisco Giants were eliminated from playoff contention Sunday with a 3-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies, and Sanders said he will skip the Giants’ final seven games to have surgery today or Tuesday in Miami.

Perez still in jail

Pitcher Carlos Perez of the Montreal Expos, one of the top rookies in the majors, remained in police custody in Atlanta, more than 24 hours after being arrested on charges of rape and aggravated sodomy.

Team officials were unsuccessful in getting him released on bond.

Perez, 24, was being held at the Atlanta City Jail, accused of raping a 20-year-old woman he met for a blind date at a bar Friday. He was arrested at the team hotel Saturday morning.

Clearing the bases

San Diego’s Tony Gwynn, who went 1-for-3, has struck out only 15 times in 515 official at-bats this season… . Mark Sweeney of the Cardinals has seven consecutive pinch-hits, one short of the major league record held by Dave Philley of the Phillies in 1958 and Rusty Staub of New York in 1983… . Dave Magadan of the Astros has batted .411 in his last 29 games.