NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Wells Has Fine Debut for Reds

David Wells’ debut at Cincinnati began with dog hair and ended with a standing ovation.

Wells pitched seven-plus innings Wednesday night to beat the New York Mets, 6-2, in his first start for the Reds, who got him in a trade with Detroit on Monday night.

The left-hander got his nerves under control early and gave up nine hits over 7 1/3 innings to remain unbeaten since May 18.

“Tonight I had mixed emotions,” Wells said. “I’m in a whole new atmosphere and a whole new ballgame, really. I was nervous. It was a great sigh of relief that I went out and did what I did.”

Wells won his last nine decisions with the Tigers. Red owner Marge Schott, with her St. Bernard dog Schottzie 02 in tow, rubbed dog hair on Wells, then patted his belly, squeezed his elbow and waved goodby before the game.

Chris Jones hit a two-run homer off Wells in the second inning to put the Mets ahead, but the Reds rallied against slumping starter Bobby Jones (6-8).

Bret Boone doubled home a run in the second, Barry Larkin’s groundout tied it in the third, and Hal Morris led off the fourth with his sixth homer to put Cincinnati ahead to stay.

Mark Lewis’ RBI pinch-double highlighted a three-run sixth that ended Jones’ performance.

San Diego 11, San Francisco 3--The Padres scored all 11 of their runs in the eighth inning, including Melvin Nieves’ grand slam, to win at San Diego.

San Diego tied a team record by getting nine hits in the inning. The last time the Padres scored as many run in an inning is when they produced 13 runs on nine hits May 31, 1994, against Pittsburgh.

The onslaught came against five Giant pitchers: starter Trevor Wilson, who had a shutout through seven innings; Chris Hook, Shawn Barton, Terry Mulholland and Jose Bautista. Barton (2-1) took the loss.

Ron Villone (1-0), obtained Monday from Seattle for Andy Benes, pitched two shutout innings of relief for his first major league victory.

Florida 7, Montreal 6--Jesus Tavarez’s 10th-inning run-scoring single at Montreal gave the Marlins their club-record sixth consecutive victory.

Alejandro Pena (1-0), in his first appearance for Florida, pitched one inning for the win. Robb Nen closed out for his 11th save.

Former Expo Andre Dawson went three for three for the Marlins, drove in two runs and was given a prolonged standing ovation by Montreal fans.

Houston 4, St. Louis 2--Mike Simms, subbing for the injured Jeff Bagwell at first base, homered and drove in two runs at St. Louis as the Astros handed the Cardinals their sixth loss in a row.

Simms hit his first home run since Sept. 9, 1992. He also doubled and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Shane Reynolds (7-6) allowed two runs on six hits, walked none and recorded six strikeouts in six innings in winning for the fifth time in his last six decisions.

Pittsburgh 4, Chicago 3--Jeff King hit a two-out RBI single in the 10th inning at Pittsburgh as the Pirates ended a four-game losing streak.

King’s game-winning hit off Anthony Young (1-4) scored John Wehner, who had singled and advanced to third when Young made a error on a pickoff attempt.

The loss snapped the Cubs’ four-game winning streak.

Dan Miceli (2-3) pitched a scoreless 10th as the Pirates won for just the second time in their last 12 games.

Atlanta 7, Philadelphia 5--Slumping David Justice hit a solo homer, and Fred McGriff and Mark Lemke each had two RBIs as the Braves held off the Phillies for their first home victory over the Phillies in six games.

The victory stretched Atlanta’s NL East lead to eight games over the Phillies, who lost for the fourth time in five games.

Kent Mercker (5-6) earned his first victory since June 18 as the Braves snapped a two-game losing streak and won for only the third time in seven games.

Mark Wohlers got the final four outs to record his 12th save.

Mike Munoz (0-2) was the loser.