BASEBALL ROUNDUP : No Consolation Title for Cone

The New York Mets may be out of contention in the National League East, but David Cone made the best of his final start of the season.

Cone (14-10) not only pitched a three-hitter and hit two run-scoring singles in the Mets’ 4-1 victory over the Pirates at Pittsburgh Monday night, but his 12 strikeouts gave him a season total of 233, the most in the major leagues.

Still, Cone said he would have sacrificed his personal statistics if the game had meant anything.

“I was thinking on the way to the ballpark that this could have been a big game, an important game,” Cone said. “It was a depressing thought.”

The Mets were eliminated from the division race Sunday when the Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Dodgers’ Ramon Martinez, who led the major leagues in strikeouts for most of the season, had three Monday night against the San Diego Padres and finished the season with 223.

Meanwhile, first baseman Dave Magadan is trying to top Willie McGee’s .335 average to win the batting title. Magadan went two for five and remained at .330. He needs five hits in eight at-bats to overtake McGee.

“It can be done,” Magadan said.

Detroit 2, New York 0--Time is running out on Cecil Fielder in his quest to hit 50 home runs.

Fielder went hitless in four at-bats against the Yankees at New York. He still has 49 home runs, and his three strikeouts increased his major league-leading total to 179.

Rookie Travis Fryman did homer for Detroit and Frank Tanana (9-8) allowed only three hits over 7 1/3 innings.

Fielder has gone 16 at-bats without a home run and has two games left in his bid to become the first player to hit 50 since George Foster in 1977, and the first American League player to reach the mark since Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961.

Montreal 15, St. Louis 9--Tim Raines’ grand slam highlighted a seven-run seventh inning as the Expos used two seven-run outbursts to win at Montreal.

It was Raines’ ninth homer of the season and fifth grand slam of his career.

Raines’ blow offset four home runs by the Cardinals, two by Milt Thompson.

Tim Burke (3-3), the last of four Montreal pitchers, went 2 2/3 innings and gave up one run.

Philadelphia 7, Chicago 6--John Kruk tripled, doubled and drove in three runs as the Phillies won at Philadelphia.

Ryne Sandberg increased his National League-leading home run total to 40 with a two-run shot in the third inning. He became the third player in major league history to hit 40 home runs and steal 25 bases in a season. The others were Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves in 1963 and Jose Canseco of the Oakland Athletics in 1988.

Philadelphia’s Jose DeJesus (7-8) allowed four hits and three runs in the six innings.

Cincinnati 4, Houston 3--Ron Oester scored from second on shortstop Rafael Ramirez’s throwing error in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Reds a victory at Cincinnati.

The NL West champions ended a three-game losing streak with the unearned run off loser Brian Meyer, who walked Oester to start the ninth. Todd Benzinger sacrificed and Billy Hatcher hit a grounder to the hole at short. Ramirez fielded the ball but threw it past first into the Reds’ dugout.

Randy Myers, the fifth Cincinnati pitcher, pitched a perfect ninth for the victory.

Tom Browning was erratic in his five-inning tune-up for the playoffs. He gave up three runs, eight hits and three walks in five innings and failed to hold a 2-0 lead.

Atlanta 5, San Francisco 3--Francisco Cabrera hit a three-run homer and John Smoltz broke a four-game losing streak against the Giants as the Braves won at San Francisco.

Smoltz (14-11), 0-2 in four starts since his last victory on Sept. 5, held the Giants to two runs and three hits in seven innings. He entered the game 0-4 against the Giants this season with an 8.00 earned-run average.

The Giants fell out of a tie for second place in the NL West with the Dodgers, who beat San Diego.

Texas 4, Milwaukee 2--Ruben Sierra’s eighth-inning grounder drove in the go-ahead run as the Rangers won at Milwaukee.

With the score tied, 2-2, Julio Franco walked and Rafael Palmeiro singled him to third with one out in the eighth off Ron Robinson (12-5). Sierra hit a hard grounder to first baseman Rob Deer, who stepped on the bag but held the ball as Franco scored.

Minnesota 7, Seattle 5--Scott Leius had a two-run double in a five-run second inning as the Twins won at Minneapolis.

Kevin Tapani (12-8) won for the first time since July 30 despite giving up four runs and 10 hits in six-plus innings.