NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Pirates Clinch at Least a Share of Title

The Pittsburgh Pirates left nothing to chance in their attempt to secure at least a share of the NL East championship.

The Pirates used two six-run innings, a grand slam by Lloyd McClendon and home run by Barry Bonds to rout the New York Mets, 19-2, Saturday at Pittsburgh.

The next Pirate victory or Montreal loss will assure Pittsburgh of becoming the first NL East team to win three consecutive division championships since Philadelphia did it in 1976-78.

The Pirates also won three in a row from 1970-72.

The Expos prevented the Pirates from clinching Saturday by beating the Chicago Cubs, 12-0.

“This was fun, but this team is looking to bigger and better things,” said McClendon, who is on the verge of playing for his fourth consecutive NL East champion. He also played for the ’89 Cubs.

“This will be three in a row for us, and we’ve come out on the short end (in the NL playoffs) every time. Now, we just want to get this over with and focus on taking that next step beyond.”

The Pirates led, 6-1, after one inning, 12-1 after two and 16-1 after four.

Infielder Bill Pecota pitched the eighth inning, becoming the first position player in Met history to pitch in a regular-season game. He gave up a leadoff homer to Andy Van Slyke but got the next three hitters.

Bonds, making a run at a second National League MVP award in three years, hit a two-run homer in the second and added a run-scoring double in the fourth.

Bonds has 32 homers and 100 RBIs, the first Pirate since Willie Stargell in 1971-73 with three consecutive 100-RBI seasons.

The 19 runs were the most the Pirates have scored at home since moving into Three Rivers Stadium in 1970. The Mets had not given up so many runs in a game since a 26-7 loss in Philadelphia on June 11, 1985.

Mets starter Eric Hillman (2-2) retired only two hitters before departing after giving up six runs and three hits.

Bob Walk (10-6) gave up two runs in six innings and also drove in two runs with a first-inning double.

All nine starters had at least one hit for the Pirates, who finished with 20.

Montreal 12, Chicago 0--Chris Nabholz pitched his second career shutout at Montreal, preventing Pittsburgh from clinching the NL East championship.

Nabholz (11-11) gave up four hits and struck out 10. He walked two and retired the last 12 in his first complete game.

Shawn Boskie (5-11) gave up five runs and nine hits in six innings for the Cubs, who have lost five in a row.

Moises Alou hit a two-run homer, his eighth, in the eighth inning.

Atlanta 2, San Diego 1--Lonnie Smith singled home the tiebreaking run with two outs in the 10th inning at San Diego as the Braves reduced to three their magic number for clinching the NL West title.

The Braves, shut out in their previous two games, won for only the fifth time in 12 games.

Jeff Blauser doubled to the base of the left-field wall against Rich Rodriguez (6-3) with one out in the 10th. Gene Harris replaced Rodriguez with two outs and gave up the single to Smith, who also drove in Atlanta’s other run, in the third inning.

Mike Stanton (5-4) worked the final two innings for the victory.

Philadelphia 3-10, St. Louis 1-0--The Phillies extended their win streak to six games with a sweep at Philadelphia.

Curt Schilling (14-10) pitched a four-hitter in the opener and Ben Rivera (7-4) pitched a five-hitter in the nightcap for his first shutout.

Schilling (14-10) struck out five and walked three in his ninth complete game.

Rivera (7-4) struck out seven and walked four in his fourth complete game.

San Francisco 8, Cincinnati 3--Steve Hosey hit his first major league homer as the Giants ended the Reds’ nine-game winning streak with the victory at San Francisco.

Greg Swindell (12-7), who had not yielded more than two earned runs in a game since Aug. 6, gave up two runs in the fifth was chased when the Giants added two more runs in the sixth.

Will Clark got his career-high 40th double.

Royce Clayton hit his fourth home run for the Giants.