NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Cone Loses No-Hitter but Still Beats Astros, 4-0

The cool weather in the East is making life miserable for hitters, but wonderful for pitchers.

There were several well-pitched games Tuesday night, not the least of which was David Cone’s two-hitter at New York, where he pitched the Mets to a 4-0 victory over Houston.

No Met pitcher has thrown a no-hitter over a franchise history that spans 4,815 games.

Cone was working on it. But, with one out in the eighth inning, pinch-hitter Benny Distefano was fooled so badly that he topped the ball down the third base line and beat it out. Another infield roller by Jeff Bagwell in the ninth was the other hit.

Twenty times the Mets have had one hitters. It was the second time in less than a year Cone went into the eighth without yielding a hit.

Eddie Murray drove in all four runs, two on a first-inning double and the other two on a bases-loaded single in the fifth.

Atlanta 1, Chicago 0--The only run in this pitching battle at Atlanta scored on a wild pitch in the seventh inning.

Charlie Leibrandt continued the run of sizzling pitching for the Braves when he gave up only one hit in seven innings.

Frank Castillo (0-2) had a no-hitter through five innings.

He gave up a single to Sid Bream to open the seventh. On a grounder to third base, Luis Salazar threw high to second on a force attempt. Mark Lemke sacrificed and Damon Berryhill was given an intentional walk to fill the bases.

Paul Assenmacher relieved Castillo and threw a wild pitch to Jeff Blauser, pinch runner Otis Nixon scoring the only run.

It was the fourth victory in a row for the Braves, who have given up only two runs in the last three games.

Cincinnati 3, Pittsburgh 2--Tom Browning was in the clubhouse at Cincinnati, taking a shower to cool off when the Reds presented him with his third victory in four decisions.

Browning, trailing, 2-1, apparently didn’t like some of the calls by plate umpire Tom Hallion. After pitching the sixth inning, Browning went nose-to-nose with the umpire, bumped his cap and was ejected.

In the bottom of the sixth, while Browning--who gave up three hits--was still the pitcher of record, the Reds scored two runs off Doug Drabek to win the game.

Browning, who celebrated his 32nd birthday, probably will be fined and might be suspended.

Paul O’Neill took Browning off the hook with a two-out home run to tie the score. Consecutive singles by Bill Doran, Reggie Sanders and Joe Oliver made Browning a winner. Sanders homered in the fourth inning, the first home run given up by Drabek in 30 2/3 innings.

Norm Charlton pitched the ninth and recorded his seventh save.

San Diego 7, Philadelphia 6--Darrin Jackson hit his second home run of the game leading off the ninth inning to give the Padres the victory.

Jackson, who went three for five and drove in four runs, hit relief pitcher Curt Schilling’s second pitch for the home run. In the fifth inning he homered off Tommy Greene.

Benito Santiago had three infield hits and two stolen bases for the Padres, who had 14 hits.

Mickey Morandini tied the game, 6-6, in the sixth inning when he greeted reliever Mike Maddux with a two-out single to knock in Darren Daulton. It was Morandini’s fourth RBI of the game, a personal best.

The Padres broke a 5-5 tie in the fifth inning when Jackson homered off starter Tommy Greene.

San Francisco 2, Montreal 1--Matt Williams hit Bill Sampen’s first pitch of the 10th inning over the right-field fence at San Francisco to win it.

The Expos have lost all 11 night games they have played this season.