NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Two Homers Let Reds End Giants’ Streak

The San Francisco Giants, seeking their 12th consecutive victory Friday night at Cincinnati, scored three runs in the first inning against Randy Myers and turned the game over to left-hander Bud Black.

The Reds fought from behind twice and, on Joe Oliver’s two-run home run in the fourth inning, gained a 5-4 victory.

The Reds, playing without ailing Eric Davis and suspended bullpen ace Rob Dibble, had to subdue the Giants for the last five innings. But Myers, Ted Power and Norm Charlton did the job.

Charlton struck out Will Clark with two on in the ninth to end the game and get his first save in more then a year.

Barry Larkin also hit a two-run home run for the Reds, who won only for the sixth time in their last 22 games. Myers (5-8) settled down after giving up a home run to Kevin Mitchell in the third inning to get his first victory as a starter.

Before losing twice in his first three starts, Myers had made 293 relief appearances.

With the Dodgers losing in the ninth, the Giants, who have made up 5 1/2 games since the All-Star break, didn’t lose any ground.

“I let them down,” Black said, “but we aren’t through yet.

“Everybody knew we had a good team, but we played poorly the first two months. The last two weeks we have played the way we can. If we continue to play this way, we can chip away at that lead.”

St. Louis 4, Pittsburgh 3--For six innings, while the Pirates built a 3-0 lead for him, Zane Smith was perfect. He retired 18 consecutive Cardinals at St. Louis.

But Ray Lankford got an infield hit leading off the seventh inning, and things continued to go wrong for the leaders of the East.

In the bottom of the ninth, reliever Stan Belinda walked Bernard Gilkey with the bases loaded to force in the winning run.

“Bernard Gilkey may be a rookie,” Cardinal Manager Joe Torre said, “but he’s been a lead-off man all his life. He knows what a ball is. That’s why you like to have him come up in that kind of situation. He knows the strike zone and he’s not going to swing at a bad pitch.”

The Cardinals got all five of their hits in the seventh and ninth innings. Four of them were of the infield variety. The only clean hit was a single by Gerald Perry in the ninth.

“It’s not as if they were hitting the ball hard,” Smith said. “I’m happy with the way I’m throwing. But we sure aren’t getting any luck these days. I can’t believe the hits those guys got.”

Barry Bonds hit his 17th home run in the seventh to make the score 3-0. Bonds, trying to lead the Pirates out of the slump, is hitting .395 in his last 13 games.

Ozzie Smith began the winning rally against Belinda by drawing his 58th walk of the season.

“I stayed with Belinda because he has had good success against the Cardinal batters he was slated to face,” Pirate Manager Jim Leyland said. “We’re just having some poor luck. It won’t last.”

The Cardinals’ second victory in a row over the Pirates put them 5 1/2 games out of first.

San Diego 13, Atlanta 3--Another streak ended at Atlanta.

The Braves, who were closing in on the Dodgers, had won four in a row.

But Tim Teufel hit a grand slam and Darrin Jackson had four hits, including a two-run home run, to make it easy for Bruce Hurst to improve to 13-5.

Tony Gwynn had three of the Padres’ season-high 19 hits and is 19 for 38 against the Braves this season.

Hurst won his fourth consecutive decision.

“It was a night when the offense took over,” Hurst said. “It was the kind of night a pitcher can just sit back and enjoy.”

Chicago 4, New York 2--Ryne Sandberg hit a two-run home run in the 10th inning at New York to hand the Mets their eighth loss in 10 games.

The Mets failed to take advantage of another strong performance by Dwight Gooden. The right-hander, who usually pitches well against the Cubs, gave up six hits and two runs in seven innings. He is 23-3 lifetime against the Cubs, 13-1 at Shea Stadium.

Against Alejandro Pena, who had not lost this season, Mark Grace opened the 10th with a single and Sandberg hit his 17th home run.

Philadelphia 6, Montreal 5--Dickie Thon’s home run in the 11th, his second of the night, won the game at Montreal.

Dennis Martinez, who pitched a perfect game at Dodger Stadium in his previous start, gave up a first-inning double to John Kruk.

He lasted seven innings, giving up four runs and six hits, but escaped the defeat.