NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : VanLandingham Leads Hot Giants to Eighth Consecutive Victory, 6-4

William VanLandingham nearly made himself famous for something other than having the longest name in baseball history.

VanLandingham, a rookie making his 10th start, no-hit Montreal for 7 1/3 innings to lead the streaking San Francisco Giants to their eighth consecutive victory, 6-4, over the Expos at Montreal.

“I was nervous at first because nobody wants to be the guy to end the streak,” said VanLandingham (5-1), who walked Rondell White leading off the first before retiring 22 in a row.

“I didn’t start thinking about it until the sixth or seventh,” he said. “But coming out for the eighth, I was exhausted. I figured if it happens, it happens. It worked out all right.”

Matt Williams hit his 34th home run and Darryl Strawberry had two hits and drove in a run for the Giants, who are 8-0 since Strawberry joined the club on July 7.

VanLandingham took his no-hit bid into the eighth before giving up a one-out double to Lenny Webster. He then walked Mike Lansing and was relieved by Pat Gomez.

Randy Milligan’s single against Gomez brought home the Expos’ first run, and Montreal closed to 5-2 on Freddie Benavides’ sacrifice fly. Rod Beck relieved Gomez and walked White before Cliff Floyd’s run-scoring single cut the Giants’ lead to 5-3.

Strawberry gave the Giants a three-run cushion with a run-scoring single in the ninth, but the Expos rallied again against Beck.

Beck gave up Lansing’s run-scoring single, but got Lou Frazier to ground out with runners at first and second for his 20th save.

Colorado 10, St. Louis 6--Dante Bichette hit a grand slam and drove in a club-record six runs as the Rockies completed a four-game series sweep at Denver.

Marvin Freeman (8-2) gave up one run and five hits in seven innings to help Colorado draw within two games of the Dodgers.

The Rockies drew 61,972 to establish another major league attendance record. The four-game total of 259,113 eclipsed their own record for a four-game series of 251,521, set against St. Louis on July 22-25, 1993.

Colorado, posting its sixth consecutive victory over the Cardinals dating to a series in St. Louis this month, outscored the Cardinals during the series, 43-17.

The six-RBI performance gave Bichette 89, one more than Houston’s Jeff Bagwell.

San Diego 10, New York 1--Eddie Williams hit two home runs to lead a 19-hit attack and Phil Plantier drove in three runs at New York.

Williams drove in four runs and Plantier also scored three times for the Padres, who scored four runs in the first inning against Pete Smith (4-9) and three in the fifth after two were out.

Joey Hamilton (6-4) gave up four hits in eight innings. He walked one, struck out four and had a sacrifice fly for the first RBI of his career.

Houston 9, Pittsburgh 0--Steve Finley’s grand slam highlighted an eight-run second inning and Shane Reynolds pitched seven scoreless relief innings after Doug Drabek was injured at Pittsburgh.

The Astros couldn’t win Friday despite a seven-run first inning, but there was no Pirate comeback this time as Drabek and Reynolds (7-4) combined on a five-hit shutout.

Drabek, a former Pirate, had pitched two scoreless innings before being hit by Paul Wagner’s fastball above the right elbow while squaring to bunt with Orlando Miller on first in the third. He will be examined today in Houston.

Cincinnati 3, Chicago 2--Reggie Sanders hit a bases-loaded single in the 10th inning to give the Reds the victory at Cincinnati.

Jacob Brumfield singled to open the 10th against Jose Bautista (3-4), his third hit, and advanced to second on Barry Larkin’s sacrifice. After an intentional walk to Hal Morris and a walk to Kevin Mitchell, Sanders lined the second pitch off the left-field wall.

Atlanta 2, Florida 1--Greg Maddux earned his 12th victory with his league-leading seventh complete game, and rookie Jose Oliva drove in two runs at Atlanta for the third consecutive game.

Maddux (12-5), who had lost three of four decisions, gave up nine hits and didn’t walk a batter. He struck out seven.

Oliva, batting .444 since his recall from the minors on June 30 to fill in for injured third baseman Terry Pendleton, drove in both Atlanta runs with a double in the fourth against Rich Scheid (0-1).