BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Pirates Win on Wilkerson’s Grand Slam

Curtis Wilkerson went more than two years without hitting a home run. He made the wait worthwhile.

Wilkerson’s pinch-hit grand slam off Lee Smith capped a five-run ninth inning Thursday night and the Pittsburgh Pirates cut their magic number to four, rallying to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-1, at Pittsburgh.

“He’s a fastball pitcher and I’m a fastball hitter,” Wilkerson said after connecting on the first pitch to him with two outs. “With the bases loaded, I know he doesn’t want to take a chance of getting behind in the count.”

The Pirates beat St. Louis for the seventh time in the last nine games and increased their season-high lead in the NL East to 12 1/2 games over the Cardinals. It is the largest lead Pittsburgh has held since Sept. 16, 1972.

Rookie Omar Olivares (9-6) took a two-hit shutout into the ninth inning, but Cecil Espy led off with a single and took third on Bobby Bonilla’s single. Bob McClure relieved and Barry Bonds grounded into a force play, enabling Espy to score the tying run.

Steve Buechele singled and reliever Lee Smith intentionally walked pinch-hitter Gary Redus, loading the bases. After Jose Lind struck out, Wilkerson batted for pitcher Stan Belinda and hit the grand slam. Wilkerson, batting .185 at the time, hit his first home run since April 29, 1989.

Wilkerson went to the plate with a .156 average with runners in scoring position, even lower than the composite average of the pitchers.

But Manager Jim Leyland chose him instead of home run threat Lloyd McClendon because Leyland wanted a left-handed hitter against Smith.

This was the second time this season the Pirates beat Smith with a home run. On Aug. 12, Bonds hit a two-run shot in the 11th inning for a 4-3 victory.

Belinda (7-5) pitched a perfect ninth inning after starter John Smiley was lifted for a pinch hitter.

Todd Zeile homered for the Cardinals’ run. It was his team-leading 11th home run.

San Francisco 4, Cincinnati 1--The defending World Series-champion Reds were pushed to the brink of elimination with this loss at San Francisco. The Reds are 15 games out with 15 games to play.

The Giants scored three runs in the eighth inning, helped by squeeze bunts from Dave Anderson and Jose Uribe.

With the score 1-1 in the eighth, Willie McGee doubled, Robby Thompson was struck with a pitch by Randy Myers and Kevin Bass walked with one out to load the bases for the Giants.

Anderson broke the tie with a bunt to Myers, whose wild throw home enabled Thompson to score for a 3-1 lead. Uribe’s successful squeeze capped the rally.

Francisco Oliveras (6-5) pitched a scoreless eighth and Dave Righetti finished for his 24th save as the Giants won their fifth in a row.

Seattle 10, Kansas City 5--Ken Griffey Jr. hit his American League-leading third grand slam of the season and the Seattle Mariners rallied for six runs in the sixth inning to win at home.

Rookie Dave Burba (1-2) got his first big league victory, pitching 1 2/3 innings of one-hit relief.

Philadelphia 5, Montreal 4--Darrin Fletcher singled in Dale Murphy with the winning run in the 10th inning of a game delayed 1 hour 15 minutes in the ninth inning because of rain at Philadelphia.

Chicago Cubs, New York Mets--This game at New York was canceled because of rain. The clubs have only one similar off-day the rest of the season, and it was decided not to make up the game.