National League Roundup : A Walk to Tracy Jones Is Still as Good as a Win for Reds

Cincinnati is becoming an eerie place to play baseball these days.

Tuesday, Tracy Jones of the Reds stood at home plate as a pinch-hitter against the San Diego Padres with the score tied and the bases loaded in the ninth inning. San Diego reliever Lance McCullers walked Jones to force in the winning run, giving the Reds a 4-3 victory at Riverfront Stadium.

Up comes Jones again as a pinch-hitter against the Padres Thursday, with the score tied and the bases loaded in the 10th inning.

You guessed it. San Diego reliever Mark Davis (2-6) walked Jones to force in the winning run, giving the Reds another 4-3 win.

“It’s getting a little boring coming up and getting walks,” Jones said.

With two out in the 10th inning, Davis gave up a single to Barry Larkin, then walked Kal Daniels and Chris Sabo, before throwing four consecutive balls to Jones to end it.

New York 12 Houston 6--Darryl Strawberry hit his 19th homer, singled, tripled and scored four runs at New York as the Mets increased their first-place lead to six games over the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had the day off.

Strawberry hit a two-run homer in the third inning to put him in a tie with San Francisco’s Will Clark for the National League home run lead.

Howard Johnson had three hits and four runs batted in for the Mets, contributing to a 16-hit attack that gave New York its third straight win.

Montreal 6 Atlanta 0--Brian Holman, making his second major league appearance, pitched a five-hit shutout for his first victory as the Expos handed the Braves their fifth straight defeat.