NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : A Daunting Thought: Maddux at His Best

Greg Maddux has won three consecutive Cy Young awards and is acclaimed as the best right-handed pitcher in baseball. Yet he had never thrown a two-hitter, much less a one-hitter or a no-hitter.

That changed Sunday in the Houston Astrodome.

Maddux threw the best game of his career, holding the Astros to one hit--an eighth-inning solo homer by a slumping Jeff Bagwell--in the Atlanta Braves’ 3-1 victory.

“Give him credit,” Maddux said of Bagwell. “The guy hit a good pitch. But it was kind of a relief. I was kind of nervous, and then I could relax.”

Bagwell’s blast over the left-field fence came on an 0-1 fastball. Maddux said he threw the right pitch in the wrong place--over the middle instead of inside.

Maddux had retired 20 consecutive batters up to that point and had allowed only one runner on an error in the second inning.

“The guys on the bench were saying, ‘Somebody get a hit. We don’t want to be no-hit,’ ” said Bagwell, who is batting only .194 this season. “I was lucky.”

Maddux (4-1) threw only 97 pitches, including 68 strikes, and had seven strikeouts. His only walk was in the ninth.

Maddux had thrown eight career three-hitters, the last on Aug. 11, 1994, at Colorado.

Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox has come to expect this kind of game from Maddux.

“It seems like every game is just like today’s game,” Cox said. “He normally strikes out six, eight, nine guys. He’s really consistent with his stuff. He doesn’t vary much.”

Fred McGriff’s two-run triple in the seventh inning broke up the scoreless tie, and Jeff Blauser’s solo homer in the ninth gave the Braves a 3-1 lead.

San Diego 13, Philadelphia 5--The Padres tied the game in the ninth inning when Heathcliff Slocumb walked in a run, then they tied the National League record for most runs in the 10th inning at Philadelphia.

The Padres sent 14 batters to the plate in the 10th and scored nine runs, matching the record set by Cincinnati against Philadelphia in 1947.

Eddie Williams’ bases-loaded single snapped a 4-4 tie, reliever Trevor Hoffman (3-0) had a two-run double, Tony Gwynn drove in two runs with a single and Ken Caminiti and Melvin Nieves drove in one run each. Another run scored on a wild pitch.

Cincinnati 9, St. Louis 2--The Reds became the latest team to beat up on Danny Jackson, stretching their winning streak to seven games at St. Louis.

Reggie Sanders and Brian Hunter homered and the Reds added seven doubles, including one by winning pitcher Tim Pugh that drove in two runs.

Jackson, who signed a three-year, $10.8-million deal with St. Louis in December, is 0-6 with a 7.39 ERA in seven starts after going 14-6 with a 3.26 ERA last year for Philadelphia. He lasted four innings and yielded six runs on nine hits.

In 35 1/3 innings, Jackson has given up 50 hits, including six home runs.

San Francisco 5, New York 1--Matt Williams, Barry Bonds and Steve Scarsone hit home runs at New York and Mark Portugal pitched a strong eight innings.

Portugal (3-1) gave up five hits, striking out three and walking two. He lost his shutout bid in the eighth when pinch-hitter Chris Jones hit a one-out homer.

Chicago 13, Florida 8--Howard Johnson broke out of a slump with two homers and a single and the Cubs had eight of their 18 hits in a six-run fifth inning at Wrigley Field.

Johnson’s first homer, a three-run shot in the fourth, ended a 0-for-21 slump dating to April 30.

Colorado 6, Pittsburgh 3--Mike Kingery and Vinny Castilla hit home runs at Pittsburgh and Marvin Freeman improved to 4-0 in his career against the Pirates as the Rockies ended a four-game losing streak.

Pirate Manager Jim Leyland was ejected for the 31st time in his 10-year career in the eighth inning.