Phillies Stop Larkin’s Base Streak at 13

Curt Schilling stopped Barry Larkin’s streak of reaching base at 13, one shy of the National League record. He stopped Larkin’s teammates too.

Schilling overpowered the Cincinnati Reds for nine innings Tuesday night, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 2-1 victory. The right-hander struck out 11 and gave up six hits in his third complete game.

Larkin was the focus of attention going in, as he challenged Pedro Guerrero’s National League record of reaching base in 14 consecutive plate appearances in 1985.

Larkin singled in the first inning, pushing his streak to 13. But Schilling (7-4) got him on a fly ball out in the third inning.

“That at-bat was one of my most fun at-bats this year. It was a challenge,” Larkin said. “He was not going to try to fool me. It was like, ‘If you get it, you’re going to get it on my best pitch.’ Unfortunately for me, he was like Cy Schilling out there today.”

Rob Butler had a run-scoring single and Rico Brogna homered off rookie Brett Tomko (0-1) as the Phillies ended Cincinnati’s longest winning streak of the season at four games.

Cincinnati came away with the worst record in the major leagues (18-32), one game worse than Philadelphia.

Schilling rebounded from his shortest start in four years by pitching his third complete game in 12 starts and padding his NL-leading strikeout total to 93.

Atlanta 9, San Diego 2--Kenny Lofton hit a bizarre three-run, inside-the-park home run and Greg Maddux repeatedly pitched out of trouble at San Diego as the Braves defeated the Padres for the seventh consecutive time.

The Braves had 21 runs on 26 hits in sweeping the two-game series.

The loss spoiled Tony Gwynn’s 30th career four-hit game, which raised his lifetime average against Maddux to .464 and his season average to .402.

Maddux (6-1) gave up 10 hits in six innings, the most since his first start of the year, but he gave up only two runs. He struck out seven and walked two.

Lofton’s fifth-inning homer, his third, was the result of a mental error by left fielder Greg Vaughn.

With runners at second and third and one out, Lofton hit a slicing one-hopper into the Padres’ bullpen. A San Diego reliever attempted to avoid the ball, but it bounced off the seat of his pants and fell onto a small ledge between the outfield fence and the bullpen seating area.

Vaughn stood just a few feet from the ball and raised his hands toward third-base umpire Joe West, anticipating a ground-rule double would be called.

Lofton, meanwhile, raced around the bases, touched home and headed toward the dugout after giving the Braves a 5-2 lead.

Montreal 5, New York 4--Darrin Fletcher homered and pinch-hitter F.P. Santangelo hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the fifth inning as the Expos rallied at New York.

Trailing, 4-2, in the fifth, Fletcher led off with a homer off Mets starter Mark Clark (5-3). Henry Rodriguez walked, Joe Orsulak doubled one out later and Doug Strange then tied the score with an RBI single.

After rookie Cory Lidle relieved, Santangelo lifted a fly ball to medium left and Orsulak scored.

Chicago 8, Pittsburgh 7--Brant Brown, who had only eight hits all season, hit a three-run homer and Brian McRae, pinch-hitting for Brown, had a two-run single to lead the Cubs at Pittsburgh.

“[Chicago Manager Jim Riggleman] called me in [Monday] and told me I didn’t have to look over my shoulder,” Brown said. “That did instill some confidence in me. I feel like I got amnesty. It’s a nice feeling to do something to help the team and help your confidence.”

Jeremi Gonzalez (1-0), who gave up six hits, won his major-league debut for the Cubs despite constantly pitching in trouble during his 5 1/3 innings.

Trailing, 8-4, entering the ninth, the Pirates scored three runs with two outs to pull within a run. But with a runner on third, Terry Adams struck out Midre Cummings for his sixth save.

San Francisco 5, Houston 4--Stan Javier’s single off the glove of shortstop Ricky Gutierrez drove in the winning run with one out in the 10th inning to give the Giants a victory at San Francisco.

Barry Bonds, who ended Monday’s 4-3 San Francisco win over Houston by leading off the ninth inning with a homer, doubled to open the 10th. One out later, Mark Lewis was hit by a pitch from Billy Wagner (2-2).

Javier followed with a grounder that Gutierrez dove for and knocked into shallow left field, allowing Bonds to score.

“The more close games you win, the more you feel you’re going to win,” said San Francisco Manager Dusty Baker, whose team is 4-1 in extra-inning games this season and 11-5 in one-run games. “Last year, we got in close games and we got scared we were going to lose them. This year, we get in close games and we feel we’re going to win.”

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Fred McGriff

Team: Atlanta

Performance: 2 for 5, 2 runs, RBI, home run

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Darrin Fletcher

Team: Montreal

Performance: 2 for 4, 2 runs, RBI, home run

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Brant Brown

Team: Chicago

Performance: 2 for 2, run, 3 RBIs, home run

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Stan Javier

Team: San Francisco

Performance: 3 for 4, run, 3 RBIs, double

Team’s Result: Win

PITCHING

Player: Greg Maddux

Team: Atlanta

Performance: 6 innings, 10 hits, 2 runs, 7 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Curt Schilling

Team: Philadelphia

Performance: 9 innings, 7 hits, 1 run, 11 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win