BASEBALL ROUNDUP : After 174, Phillies Fail to Score

The Philadelphia Phillies were shut out for the first time in more than a year, ending the longest scoring streak this century at 174 games, and lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-0, Thursday night at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

The National League East champions hadn’t been blanked since a 3-0 loss to Doug Drabek and the Pirates on Sept. 19, 1992. The previous record of 150 games was set by the Pirates from July 4, 1924 to June 29, 1925.

Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (6-11) pitched a four-hitter for his second consecutive shutout.

The Phillies went back to their regular lineup Thursday. The only starter given a night off was catcher Darren Daulton.

New York 3, St. Louis 2--The Mets closed out their home schedule as Eddie Murray homered and Eric Hillman (2-9) gave up 10 hits. The Mets finished 29-53 at Shea Stadium, their worst home record since 1979. The victory made the Mets 56-103, the poorest record in the majors.

Montreal 5, Florida 3--Curtis Pride read his Montreal Expo teammates’ lips to get their congratulations after his first major league homer.

“It helps because they know I can play,” Pride said after his two-run, pinch-homer in the ninth inning won the game at Miami.

Pride, born with a 95% hearing loss, was signed by the Expos as a minor league free agent after six years in the Mets’ organization.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Detroit 7, Boston 4--With three hits and a sacrifice fly at Boston, Danny Bautista drove in four runs, including the go-ahead run in the eighth inning for the Tigers, who won for the seventh time in eight games and assured themselves of finishing ahead of the Red Sox.

Bautista, called up from the minors on Sept. 3, got the first three RBIs of his major league career on Wednesday night. Bautista went eight for 15 as the Tigers won three of four from the Red Sox.

Texas 6, Oakland 2--Juan Gonzalez hit his major league-leading 45th home run at Arlington as he returned to the lineup from a back injury. Gonzalez, who missed nine games, hit a 420-foot drive to left field in the third inning off Todd Van Poppel (6-6).

Kenny Rogers (16-10) didn’t give up a hit until rookie Henry Mercedes lined a ball off his glove with two out in the sixth and beat out his throw in the dirt.

Toronto 6, Baltimore 2--Al Leiter won his third consecutive start as the Orioles fell into fourth place in the AL East. The AL East champion Blue Jays have won 16 of 18, including a club-record nine in a row on the road.

Seattle 2, Chicago 1--Mike Blowers hit a run-scoring single in the 11th inning at Chicago in the final regular-season home game for the White Sox. Greg Litton led off the 11th with a double off Kirk McCaskill (4-8), Rich Amaral sacrificed Brian Turang to third and Blowers singled.