National League Roundup : Maldonado’s Single Lifts Giants Past Cardinals

It has been a rough trip for the San Francisco Giants and a tough season for Scott Garrelts.

But the right-handed reliever was wearing a smile after Candy Maldonado’s two-out, run-scoring single in the ninth inning carried the Giants past the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5, Saturday at St. Louis.

Garrelts (2-4), who entered the game with a 5.43 earned-run average, blanked the Cardinals for 2 innings to earn the victory.

“I tried to use my breaking ball more today,” Garrelts said. “I had been relying too much on my fastball and was getting too predictable.”

With one out in the ninth, the Giants’ Brett Butler reached second on third baseman Jose Oquendo’s error. Cardinal pitcher Todd Worrell (4-8) struck out Robby Thompson and walked Will Clark intentionally to set up Maldonado’s game-winning single. It was Maldonado’s third single of the game.

The Cardinals tied the score, 5-5, on Ozzie Smith’s two-run home run in the seventh.

St. Louis had won four straight. The Giants are 3-7 since the All-Star game.

Atlanta 6, New York 1--John Smoltz, a 21-year-old right-hander making his major league debut, held the Mets to four hits over eight innings at New York as the Braves ended a five-game losing streak.

Dale Murphy had three hits, including a triple, scored twice and drove in a run for the Braves.

Smoltz, called up from Richmond, Va., of the International League where he was 10-5, wasn’t intimidated by the Mets.

“I didn’t want to get clobbered,” Smoltz said. “ . . . Frankly, I tried not to give the Mets that much credit. I didn’t treat them any differently than any of the teams in the International League.”

Bob Ojeda (7-8), who beat the Braves last week, allowed three runs on six hits through eight innings, and Atlanta scored three runs in the ninth off Edwin Nunez.

Chicago 3, San Diego 2--Ryne Sandberg led off the eighth inning with his first home run in more than a month and the Cubs gained their second straight one-run victory over the Padres at Chicago.

Sandberg broke a 2-2 tie with a shot down the left-field line, his first home run since June 19 and his first extra-base hit since June 23.

Chicago starter Calvin Schiraldi (5-8) pitched eight innings, allowed five hits and no walks to snap his four-game losing streak.

San Diego’s Tony Gwynn had two singles and a double to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. During the streak, Gwynn has hit .506, driven in 15 runs and has had 16 multiple-hit games.

Montreal 1, Cincinnati 0--Pitchers Bryn Smith (7-6) of the Expos and Jose Rijo (11-5) of the Reds matched one-hitters through the first six innings before Tim Wallach broke up the scoreless duel with a seventh-inning, run-scoring single to give Smith the victory at Cincinnati.

Smith allowed just two singles over seven innings, retiring 16 consecutive batters during one span. Rijo struck out a season-high 12 batters in 8 innings, allowed 3 hits, and took his second consecutive 1-0 loss.

Wallach fouled off four two-strike pitches before hitting a single to center to score Hubie Brooks. Expo reliever Tim Burke pitched the ninth inning for his eighth save.

Houston 7, Philadelphia 6--Craig Reynolds scored from third base on a wild pitch with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning at Houston to give the Astros their sixth straight win.

Reynolds doubled with one out in the ninth and moved to third when Philadelphia left fielder Chris James misplayed the ball. Billy Hatcher and Rafael Ramirez were walked intentionally before reliever Bruce Ruffin’s pitch bounced away from catcher Darren Daulton and allowed Reynolds to score.

Dave Smith (4-5) worked two-thirds of an inning for the Astros and was credited with the win. Steve Bedrosian (1-4) of the Phillies gave up Reynolds’ double and took the loss.

Ruffin replaced Bedrosian and threw the wild pitch on his first delivery.