NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Padres’ Harris Stops Mets on One Hit, 2-1

Last season was the year for no-hitters. There were nine of them in the majors.

With the second half of this season barely underway, the no-hitter the four Baltimore pitchers threw Saturday was the third. And there seem to be near no-hitters every day.

Greg Harris of the San Diego Padres, who spent most of his career in the bullpen and most of this season on the disabled list, flirted with a no-hitter Sunday at New York.

As the Padres, who have never had a no-hitter in 23 years, ended the Mets’ 10-game winning streak, 2-1, Harris, a 27-year-old right-hander, held the Mets hitless for seven innings.

Mackey Sasser, a catcher playing right field, spoiled the bid with a double to right-center field to open the eighth, the only hit for the Mets. Harris needed help from Craig Lefferts to get the last two outs and improve to 2-1.

Fred McGriff hit his 17th home run in the sixth inning for the decisive run. The run against Harris in the fourth was unearned because of a throwing error by catcher Benito Santiago, who left the game because of a groin injury in the next inning.

The first Padre run was also unearned against Ron Darling (5-6), who gave up only four hits in seven innings.

After making one pitch at San Francisco on April 22, Harris felt pain in his right elbow and had to come out. He didn’t pitch again for the Padres until July 4, when he went 6 1/3 innings in a victory over the Dodgers.

Before developing tendinitis in his elbow, Harris didn’t have much of a fastball. Now, it travels only about 80 m.p.h.

“He stopped us,” Met Manager Bud Harrelson said. “Mainly all he had was a slow hook with a bite. We knew he didn’t have a fastball.”

Harris said he tried to outguess Sasser.

“I thought he would be sitting on something off-speed, so I threw him a cookie and he hit it in the gap,” Harris said. “If I had it to do again, I’d throw the same pitch, only in a different spot.”

The Padres ended a five-game losing streak.

Atlanta 2, St. Louis 1--In the first half of the season there were two surprise teams in the National League--Atlanta and St. Louis.

After the Braves completed a four-game sweep at Atlanta, there is only one.

The Cardinals, with their best hitter, Pedro Guerrero, sidelined because of a broken leg, are falling fast. The Braves are back in the race in the West.

Left-hander Tom Glavine pitched a six-hitter and struck out eight. He became a 13-game winner when the Cardinal defense, which had been the best in the league, gave up two unearned runs in the third.

After giving up a home run in the first inning to light-hitting utility man Geronimo Pena, Glavine, the All-Star game starter, settled down to pitch brilliantly.

With the Dodgers losing four games at Montreal, the Braves are 5 1/2 games out of first place. They were 9 1/2 behind at the break.

Pittsburgh 10, Cincinnati 6--Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla hit two-run home runs at Cincinnati and the Pirates completed a four-game sweep. After losing the season opener, they have beaten the Reds eight times in a row.

Bonilla went four for four, while Bonds also doubled in a run to give him 11 RBIs in the series.

While the Reds are five games behind the slumping Dodgers in the West, the Pirates increased their lead in the East to 3 1/2 games over the Mets.

Afterward, Pirate Manager Jim Leyland was taken to a hospital after complaining of chest pains on the flight back to Pittsburgh.

San Francisco 17, Philadelphia 5--The Giants took out their frustration at Philadelphia. Will Clark hit a grand slam and drove in seven runs, Matt Williams hit two home runs and Kevin Mitchell hit a three-run home run.

Clark, hitting .309, has 17 home runs and 69 RBIs, but the Giants trail the Dodgers by 12 1/2 games.

Chicago 4, Houston 3--George Bell’s double capped a three-run third inning against Darryl Kile (3-3) for the Cubs at Chicago.