NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Half-Slide Worse Than None for Reds

The Reds had a six-run lead in the sixth inning Wednesday night at Pittsburgh, where the Pirates don’t win much, don’t score often and never beat a left-hander.

Cincinnati was pitching John Smiley (3-0), a left-hander.

So why was Deion Sanders trying to steal third base?

“I don’t consider a six-run lead in the sixth inning all that safe,” Red Manager Davey Johnson said after an 11-1 victory, Cincinnati’s ninth in a row. “We’re a running ballclub, and I don’t like to pull in the reins until later in the game.”

He should have pulled the reins in earlier. Sanders took off for third and didn’t slide until the last moment, rolling his body over on his left ankle on the half-slide.

Mark Parent threw him out.

Sanders was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated and released. Pending an examination today by an orthopedist, the injury is considered a sprained ankle and he is listed as day to day.

Sanders, also the NFL defensive player of the year with the Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers, was batting .350 in his last 16 games and leads the National League with 16 stolen bases.

The Reds used 17 hits off three pitchers to complete the best May (20-6) in the club’s history.

Chicago 4, Atlanta 1--Mike Morgan pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings for his first victory since July 16. Morgan (1-1), in the final season of a $12.5-million, four-year contract with the Cubs, is reportedly being watched closely by the Philadelphia Phillies. He offered an eyeful Wednesday by not allowing a runner past second base until the seventh inning while beating Steve Avery (1-3), who struck out 10 but gave up 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Colorado 5, St. Louis 3--Larry Walker broke an 0-for-24 slump with a first-inning double that drove in two runs, then added a solo homer in the sixth in leading the Rockies, who avoided a three-game sweep at St. Louis.

New York 7, San Diego 5--Pinch-hitter Chris Jones hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning to give the Mets a victory at New York after their ace relief pitcher, John Franco (2-0), had blown a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning.

Eddie Williams homered to tie the score, 4-4, in the ninth and Bip Roberts scored on Ken Caminiti’s groundout to give San Diego a 5-4 lead in the 10th, setting up Jones’ heroics.

Montreal 5, San Francisco 4--Moises Alou’s two-run homer in the sixth inning lifted the Expos at Montreal, where they ended the Giants’ three-game winning streak.

Alou’s fourth homer scored Lou Frazier and sent Terry Mulholland (2-5) to his fourth loss in a row.

Houston 7, Florida 4--Derek Bell had a two-run triple and former Marlin Dave Magadan drove in two runs with a double off the top of the right-field wall to lead the Astros at Houston.

The victory gave Houston a split of the two-game series and kept Florida from winning its first series in 11 tries this season.