NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Williams Finishes Giant Comeback With His 11th-Inning Homer, 13-12

Matt Williams led off the 11th inning with his second home run of the game, giving the San Francisco Giants an improbable 13-12 victory over the Atlanta Braves Sunday at San Francisco.

Williams, who went four for six, and Barry Bonds, four for five, drove in three runs each for the Giants, who rallied from two five-run deficits and roughed up an Atlanta pitching staff that had given up only 28 runs in 13 games. The decisive homer came on the first pitch thrown by Steve Bedrosian (0-1).

“I was just looking for a ball to drive, and he gave me a good one,” Williams said.

The Giants, who trailed, 5-0, 11-6, and 12-8, rallied for four runs in the ninth to force extra innings. Bonds, who had three doubles, and Williams had run-scoring hits against Atlanta reliever Mike Stanton before Jay Howell came on and gave up a sacrifice flies to Robby Thompson and pinch-hitter Todd Benzinger.

The Giants, who had season-highs in runs and hits--with 16--won three of four games in the series. Bonds was nine for 14 and drove in eight runs.

Right-hander Mike Jackson (1-1) retired the side in the top of the 11th and was the winner.

Philadelphia 11, Chicago 10--Dave Hollins’ three-run homer with two-out in the bottom of the 11th at Chicago lifted the Phillies, who hit five homers.

Hollins drove a 3-2 pitch by Bob Scanlon (0-2) into the right-field bleachers for his first homer of the season.

The victory went to Mitch Williams (1-0), who blew a save opportunity by giving up a three-run, two-out homer to Candy Maldonado during a four-run ninth.

It didn’t come easily, however. Matt Walbeck hit a two-run wind-aided homer against Jose DeLeon in the bottom of the 11th. The Phillies earlier blew two six-run leads.

The Cubs, out of position players, used reliever Randy Myers as a pinch-hitter in the 11th, and he bunted into a game-ending double play.

San Diego 10, St. Louis 6--Gary Sheffield had two homers and five RBIs, and Tony Gwynn went five for five with a homer as the Padres tied a club record with five homers at San Diego.

Gwynn, whose two-run homer during the eighth accounted for the final runs, also scored three times as the Padres beat the Cardinals for the third game in a row.

Craig Shipley hit his first home run in more than a year to tie the score, 6-6, during the seventh. Then Gwynn hit his fourth single before Sheffield homered against Mike Perez (1-1).

Tim Scott (1-0) won despite giving up Todd Zeile’s two-run single that put the Cardinals ahead, 6-5, in the seventh.

Houston 3, Florida 0--Pete Harnisch and Doug Jones combined on a four-hitter at Houston, and Luis Gonzalez hit his fourth homer to lead the Astros.

Harnisch (1-0) gave up all the Florida hits in seven innings, struck out seven and walked Dave Magadan three times.

Eric Anthony tripled to right field to start the second inning against Chris Hammond (0-3), and scored on Ken Caminiti’s line drive that bounced off third baseman Magadan’s glove for a two-base error.

Cincinnati 3, New York 2--Kevin Mitchell drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning as the Reds ended a five-game losing streak at Cincinnati.

Steve Foster (1-2) was the winner with two scoreless innings of relief.

Bret Saberhagen (2-1) gave up only three hits in six innings, until Cincinnati tied the score in the seventh.

Montreal 4, Colorado 2--Larry Walker tripled home the tying run and scored the go-ahead run, and Ken Hill pitched a four-hitter as the Expos rallied at Montreal.

Hill (2-0) struck out five and walked two to beat Gary Wayne (0-1), who faced only one batter.