NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Hill Gets Control of Himself Just in Time for Expos

Montreal Expo pitcher Ken Hill looked around, saw the bases loaded, and realized he was on his way to another loss to the Cincinnati Reds. So he took a deep breath and subjected the Reds to slow torture.

Hill pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning and gave up only three singles over seven innings Wednesday night, leading Montreal to a 5-1 victory at Cincinnati.

Hill has pitched some good games against the Reds, as evidenced by a 3.11 earned-run average, but was 1-4 lifetime against them.

Loss No. 5 seemed imminent in the second as Hill hit Chris Sabo and walked Randy Milligan and Reggie Sanders with none out. Only 14 of his first 33 pitches were strikes.

“He was very close to having a disaster,” Manager Felipe Alou said. “The bases loaded, there were none out, and he’d hit a guy and given up walks with not many pitches.”

He struck out Joe Oliver and John Smiley, and then got Bip Roberts--a .467 career hitter against Hill--to ground out to end the threat. That was the pivotal point in the game.

Cincinnati got only one more runner to second base against Hill, who had eight strikeouts. Mel Rojas pitched two perfect innings for the save.

Moises Alou’s two-out home run in the sixth broke a 1-1 tie.

New York 6, Colorado 1--The Rockies scored their first run in losing to Bret Saberhagen at New York.

After getting shut out on four singles by Dwight Gooden in Monday’s opener, the Rockies went 5 1/3 innings without a hit against Saberhagen until Jim Tatum’s pinch-single. Then, with one out in the seventh, Dante Bichette hit a homer for the Rockies’ first-ever run.

Saberhagen held Colorado to those two hits for eight innings and Mike Maddux pitched a perfect ninth in his Met debut.

Atlanta 5, Chicago 4--Ron Gant’s two-run homer in the top of the 10th inning proved decisive for the Braves at Chicago.

With one out in the 10th, Jeff Blauser beat out an infield grounder. Gant then hit a 2-and-1 pitch off Bob Scanlan into the left-field bleachers for a 5-3 Atlanta lead.

The Cubs came back in the bottom of the inning when Mark Grace reached on an error and scored on Mike Scioscia’s single. Jay Howell then retired Steve Buechele on a fly ball to end the game.

Steve Avery took a five-hitter and a 3-0 lead into the eighth, only to run into trouble. Pinch-hitter Tommy Shields singled with two out for his first major league hit. Willie Wilson then singled for his fourth hit of the game, and Rey Sanchez and Grace followed with run-scoring singles.

Chicago tied the game in the ninth after Scioscia hit a leadoff double against Steve Bedrosian. After Buechele sacrificed, Kent Mercker came in and struck out Derrick May. Matt Walbeck, a 23-year-old catcher in his first major league game, fouled off three 3-and-2 pitches before bunting past Mercker to drive in the tying run.

St. Louis 6, San Francisco 2--Geronimo Pena continued his fast start with a three-run homer and two singles as the Cardinals beat the Giants at San Francisco.

Pena, the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter, walked and scored in the first inning, singled in the second, homered off Trevor Wilson in the fourth and singled in the sixth. Pena began the season 5 for 5 with three walks before lining out in the eighth.

Rheal Cormier gave up five hits in seven innings, carrying over a strong finish from 1992. He won his final six decisions last season to finish 10-10.

Lee Smith came in for the final out and struck out Willie McGee for his 356th save, one less than career leader Jeff Reardon.

Philadelphia 6, Houston 3--Milt Thompson hit a three-run double off Xavier Hernandez in the 10th inning, giving the Phillies the victory at Houston.

Luis Gonzalez hit two home runs for the Astros, who also got seven innings of one-hit pitching from Pete Harnisch. He took a no-hit bid into the seventh before Darren Daulton’s leadoff homer. He struck out seven and walked four.

Danny Jackson, making his Phillie debut, allowed three runs and six hits in seven inning with seven strikeouts and one walk.

Mickey Morandini’s two-run homer off Houston’s Doug Jones tied the game.