BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Sanders an Instant Hit on the Diamond

Deion Sanders did his two-sport thing Thursday, practicing earlier in the day with the Atlanta Falcons, then scoring the winning run for the Atlanta Braves.

Sanders arrived late from football practice, but was inserted as a pinch-runner in the ninth inning and scored the tiebreaking run on Ron Gant’s sacrifice fly to give the Braves a 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Atlanta.

Sanders was running for Lonnie Smith, who led off the ninth by drawing a walk from Scott Bankhead. Sanders then raced to third when Bankhead’s errant pickoff throw skipped past first baseman Hal Morris for a two-base error.

Bankhead walked pinch-hitter David Justice intentionally before Gant lifted his game-winning fly to left field.

“He (Sanders) totally took Bankhead out of the inning by being on first base,” Atlanta starter Steve Avery said.

“That’s the value of Deion,” added shortstop Jeff Blauser. “Whether he plays every day or not, he definitely contributes to this club.”

The victory was the Braves’ sixth in a row and stretched their lead over the Reds in the West to 9 1/2 games. It was Cincinnati’s third consecutive loss and 11th in 15 games.

Oakland 6, Seattle 4--Ruben Sierra hit his first home run since being traded from the Texas Rangers, a three-run shot in the seventh inning at Oakland to break a 3-3 tie.

Ron Darling gave up three runs and five hits in 7 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out three in helping the A’s increase their lead in the West to five games over idle Minnesota.

Dennis Eckersley got the final five outs for his 44th save, although he gave up a pinch-hit homer to Greg Briley in the ninth.

San Francisco 5, Houston 2--Cory Snyder scored the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning and then homered in the eighth at San Francisco as the Giants won for only the third time in 16 games.

Snyder led off the sixth with a double and scored one out later on Kirt Manwaring’s double to break a 2-2 tie. He hit his 13th homer in the eighth off reliever Rob Murphy to increase the lead to 4-2, before Willie McGee tripled in another run.

John Burkett improved to 12-9. Rod Beck pitched the ninth for his 14th save.

Chicago White Sox 8, Detroit 0--Rookie David Haas pitched his first major league complete game and shutout, throwing a four-hitter to lead the Tigers at Chicago.

Major league RBI leader Cecil Fielder and Scott Livingstone each hit home runs to highlight a five-run sixth for the Tigers. Rob Deer also homered, in the second, as Detroit averted a sweep in the four-game series and won for the second time in 11 games.

Haas (4-2) didn’t walk a batter. He gave up a one-out single in the first, then retired the next 14 hitters before giving up a leadoff hit in the sixth.