NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Bonds Hurts Tanana, Doesn’t Beat Him

Frank Tanana had never taken a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Because of Barry Bonds, he still has not taken one into the eighth.

Tanana held the Giants hitless until Bonds homered with two out in the seventh, but the Mets hung on for a 3-1 victory Saturday at San Francisco.

“If you make a mistake, he hurts you. Even if you don’t make a mistake, he’s got the ability to hurt you,” Tanana said.

“It was a curveball, hanging in there, screaming ‘Hit me!’ A lot of stuff I throw is screaming ‘Hit me!’ But he really got hold of this one,” Tanana said.

Tanana (5-8) went seven innings, giving up two hits. He walked none and struck out two.

The Mets have never had a no-hitter in their 32-year history. Tanana’s longest previous no-hit bid was 5 1/3 innings on Aug. 26, 1975, while with the Angels.

Until Bonds hit his National League-leading 25th homer, the only batter to reach base against Tanana was Will Clark, who has hit by a pitch in the first inning.

Chicago 5, Colorado 1--Mike Harkey gave up three hits in eight shutout innings and Rick Wilkins homered, leading the Cubs over the Rockies at Chicago.

Harkey (7-3) gave up a bunt single in the first by Roberto Mejia, a double by Alex Cole in the sixth and a single by Freddie Benavides in the eighth. He walked one and struck out six.

Harkey is 3-0 against the Rockies this year. He was 1-2 with a 4.03 earned-run average in his last five starts. Cub pitchers have held the Rockies to only three runs in the three games of the series.

St. Louis 5, Houston 3--Bob Tewksbury takes the direct approach when he’s pitching for the Cardinals.

“Someone’s going to get had,” Tewksbury said. “It’s either going to be me, or it’s going to be him (the batter). But we’re not going to wait around all day to find out who.”

That attitude has helped Tewksbury pitch 49 consecutive innings without giving up a walk. He added seven innings to his streak when he beat the Astros at St. Louis. Tewksbury gave up six hits and struck out three as he improved his record to 10-7 and brought the Cardinals within three games of Philadelphia in the NL East.

Tewksbury’s last walk came June 15 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Florida 6, Cincinnati 3--Jack Armstrong gave up five hits in eight innings and Jeff Conine went four for four with three RBIs, leading the Marlins at Cincinnati.

Armstrong (7-9) shut out the Reds until Chris Sabo hit a two-run homer with two out in the eighth, ending the right-hander’s bid for his first shutout in three years. Bryan Harvey gave up one run in the ninth for the Marlins.

It was Armstrong’s most impressive game of the season, coming against the team that dealt him to Cleveland after the 1991 season.

Pittsburgh 4, Atlanta 3--Rookie Scott Bullett’s run-scoring triple--one of his three hits--capped a three-run fifth inning, lifting Paul Wagner and the Pirates to a victory over the Braves at Atlanta.

Wagner (5-5) gave up a three-run homer to David Justice in the first inning, but he gave up only three hits in the next seven innings as the Pirates rallied. Stan Belinda pitched a perfect ninth for his 18th save, matching his career high.

The Braves, whose three-game winning streak ended, missed an opportunity to gain ground on first-place San Francisco in the NL West, remaining nine games behind the Giants.

San Diego 4, Philadelphia 2--Andy Benes gave up five hits in eight innings and outdueled All-Star teammate Terry Mulholland as the Padres rallied for the third consecutive game to beat the slumping Phillies at San Diego.

Ricky Gutierrez’s suicide-squeeze single broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning, when the Padres scored three runs off Mulholland (9-7), the National League starter in Tuesday’s All-Star game.

The Phillies lost for the seventh time in nine games.

Benes (10-6), who followed Mulholland on the mound at the All-Star game, was relieved in the ninth by Gene Harris, who recorded his 16th save. In his last five starts, Benes has given up seven runs and 18 hits in 38 innings.