NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Braves Regain Lead, 2-0

John Smoltz had a chance for a shutout and a complete game. He gladly traded both for first place.

Smoltz ran his streak of scoreless innings to 27 with 8 1/3 shutout innings as the Braves moved into the NL West lead with a 2-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night at St. Louis.

The Braves, who won their 11th consecutive game, took a one-half game lead over the Cincinnati Reds. Atlanta hasn’t held the lead since the fourth day of the season.

“This is a big win because we go back home in first place and there’s going to be a crazy Atlanta crowd waiting for us the first game,” Smoltz said.

“I used to be obsessed with shutouts and complete games. In the end, what does it really mean? I’ve got to do my job as long as I can until somebody takes the ball out of my hand.”

The Braves return home Friday night for a six-game home stand. They need two victories to tie the club record of 13 in a row set at the start of the 1982 season.

Atlanta pitchers have five shutouts during the streak, and Smoltz, who is tied for the league with seven complete games, has been involved in three of them.

Smoltz (12-6) gave up seven hits and struck out five to get his fifth victory in six starts. It was his second victory in six decisions at Busch Stadium.

“We didn’t cool them off,” Cardinal Manager Joe Torre said after the Braves swept the two-game series. “I’m glad they’re gone.”

Kent Mercker got the final two outs for his fourth save and extended his scoreless inning streak to 21 2/3 over 19 games.

Sid Bream drove in both runs with a home run in the second and a sacrifice fly in the seventh off Omar Olivares (6-5).

Chicago 3, Cincinnati 0--Doug Dascenzo drove in two runs with a single and a sacrifice fly and Greg Maddux pitched a six-hitter as the Cubs continued the Reds’ slump at Cincinnati.

It was the Cubs’ second consecutive shutout of Cincinnati. The Reds had not been shut out in consecutive games since Aug. 10-11 in San Diego.

Maddux (12-8) struck out four and walked two in his fifth complete game of the season.

Dascenzo had a run-scoring single in the fourth and a sacrifice fly in the sixth against Greg Swindell (9-3), who had won six consecutive decisions.

Kal Daniels doubled home another run in the eighth.

Philadelphia 4, San Diego 0--Curt Schilling pitched his third shutout of the season and Darren Daulton hit a two-run homer at Philadelphia as the Phillies ended the Padres’ four-game winning streak.

Schilling (8-6) gave up five hits, struck out eight and walked none in his fourth complete game. It was the Phillies’ first victory in July against any team other than the Dodgers.

The Padres threatened in the seventh when Tony Gwynn and Gary Sheffield led off with singles. But Schilling struck out Fred McGriff and Darrin Jackson, and right fielder Wes Chamberlain made a sensational catch of Benito Santiago’s drive at the fence.

Chamberlain hit a solo homer in the eighth.

San Francisco 4, Montreal 1--Bill Swift gave up seven hits over 6 2/3 innings and Matt Williams hit a two-run homer as the Giants ended a five-game losing streak by beating the Expos at Montreal.

Swift (8-2), who started the season 6-0 before being slowed by arm trouble, won for only the second time in his last nine starts.

Cory Snyder singled ahead of Williams’ homer off Chris Nabholz (6-7) in the second and singled home another run in the sixth.

Montreal’s Greg Colbrunn hit his first major league homer in the ninth.

Pittsburgh 10, Houston 7--Orlando Merced hit a tiebreaking single in the 13th inning and Jose Lind added a two-run double as the Pirates beat the Astros at Houston.

The East-leading Pirates ended a three-game losing streak. Stan Belinda (4-2) got the victory with three innings of one-hit relief. Bob Patterson pitched the 13th for his sixth save.

Pittsburgh tied the score, 7-7, in the eighth on Gary Varsho’s RBI single, a half-inning after Gerald Young hit an RBI single for Houston.

Barry Bonds hit his 18th homer for Pittsburgh.