NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Almost Never on Sunday: the Phillies Lose

No one told the Pittsburgh Pirates’ regiment of rookies that the Philadelphia Phillies don’t lose on Sunday.

Pinch-hitter Don Slaught homered and rookie Kevin Young singled with the bases loaded as the Pirates rallied for two runs in the 10th inning to beat the division-leading Phillies, 4-3.

Mitch Williams (1-3), who had converted 23 of 25 save chances, retired only one hitter as Phillies lost for the 20th time in their last 24 games at Pittsburgh. The Phillies were 11-0 on Sunday.

Carlos Garcia was four for four before leaving because of a strained right hamstring. Young has nine hits in his last 18 at-bats. Steve Cooke pitched the first complete-game victory against the Phillies this season.

“The rookies know we’re keys to the success of this team,” Young said. “We just can’t come here every day and expect to contribute here or there, especially with Andy (Van Slyke) out. There’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves.”

Pittsburgh Pirates followed its first winless trip (0-7) in eight years with an 8-2 home stand.

“We came back against the team that’s playing better than anybody, and that says a lot,” Manager Jim Leyland said.

Houston 3, Atlanta 0--Darryl Kile came within one out of his first major league shutout, extending his winning streak to six games to lead the Astros at Atlanta.

Kile (8-1) gave up five hits, struck out eight and walked four in 8 2/3 innings before Xavier Hernandez got the final out, gaining his third save in six chances.

Greg Maddux (7-6) gave up all three runs--one earned--and six hits in seven innings, struck out two and walked three.

Houston scored unearned runs in the second and fourth innings after errors by third baseman Terry Pendleton.

Florida 9, Montreal 2--Gary Sheffield hit his first home run for Florida, and Jeff Conine added a three-run homer at Miami.

Sheffield, acquired Thursday from San Diego, hit a two-run homer in a five-run fifth inning, his 11th home run this season.

Chris Hammond (9-4) won his seventh consecutive decision, giving up six hits in 8 1/3 innings, striking out six and walking two. He retired 14 consecutive batters in one stretch and took the bid for his first shutout into the ninth inning before giving up run-scoring singles to Greg Colbrunn and Wil Cordero. Matt Turner finished.

Marlin center fielder Chuck Carr made two diving catches. Expo starter Brian Barnes (2-3) gave up four runs and three hits in 2 2/3 innings.

San Francisco 5, Colorado 0--Bill Swift pitched two-hit ball for eight innings and struck out seven, lifting the Giants at San Francisco.

Swift (10-4) gave up a single to Alex Cole to lead off the game, then retired the next 12, striking out the side in the second inning. The right-hander didn’t give up another hit until Freddie Benavides’ double down the left-field line in the seventh.

Swift struck out seven, walked one and faced only one batter over the minimum before Mike Jackson finished with a hitless ninth.

The Rockies’ newest pitcher looked much like their others for a while. Brought up this week from triple-A Colorado Springs, Curt Leskanic (0-1) appeared to have a major league case of the jitters. His first nine pitches were balls and included one hit batter, one walk and one visit from Manager Don Baylor.

His 11th pitch, to Will Clark, went for a base hit, and Darren Lewis scored on Matt Williams’ sacrifice fly. Barry Bonds drove in another run on what should have been an extra-base hit off the center-field wall. But the play was scored a fielder’s choice when Clark mistakenly returned to first base and was forced out at second.

After that, Leskanic settled down, retiring the side in order in the second inning. He gave up seven hits in seven innings.

Cincinnati 7, San Diego 1--Hal Morris singled in the go-ahead run as the Reds scored six times in the 11th inning at San Diego.

Cincinnati, which had only one hit through seven innings, had four consecutive singles to chase Gene Harris (4-1) and had seven hits in the 11th. The Reds sent 11 batters to the plate.

Juan Samuel, who had two hits in the inning, led off the 11th with a single and stole second on the first pitch to Morris before scoring the tie-breaking run.

Bobby Kelly, Rob Dibble and Samuel hit run-scoring singles, Reggie Sanders hit a run-scoring double and Dan Wilson hit a sacrifice fly.