McGriff’s Homer Is a Winner

Fred McGriff’s three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday capped a four-run rally and lifted the Braves to a 6-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Atlanta.

McGriff’s second homer of the day was his fifth hit, matching a career best, and came after the Braves rallied with two outs and the bases empty off Turk Wendell and Larry Casian (1-1).

Brad Clontz (6-2) gave up three runs in two innings but was credited with the Braves’ eighth victory in nine games. Atlanta has won 18 times in its final at-bat this season.

The Braves’ Marquis Grissom singled in the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to a major league-high 28 games.

San Diego 7, Philadelphia 1--Rickey Henderson hit the 69th leadoff home run of his career, and Joey Hamilton pitched two-hit ball for seven innings as the Padres won at San Diego.

Henderson extended his major league record for leadoff homers and scored three times for Hamilton (12-7), who struck out eight and walked two.

The Phillies finished with three hits, all by Ricky Otero, and scored their only run in the sixth on a double-play grounder.

Matt Beech (1-2), making his fourth career start, gave up three runs and eight hits in five innings for Philadelphia.

Montreal 3, San Francisco 0--Pedro Martinez gave up only two singles by Rick Wilkins in eight innings and David Segui drove in two runs for the Expos at San Francisco.

Martinez (11-8) struck out 10 in his first start since failing to get out of the second inning Aug. 19 in a 7-3 loss to San Diego.

Barry Bonds, bothered by a hamstring strain, didn’t start his second game in a row for San Francisco but pinch-hit in the ninth to keep his streak of consecutive games alive at 357.

Houston 3, St. Louis 1--Orlando Miller hit a two-run homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning at Houston as the Astros ended a seven-game losing streak to the Cardinals.

“I made two errors in the game, so coming up in the bottom of the ninth I thought it certainly would be good if I could be the hero here,” said Miller, who was fined $1,000 and benched two games for shouting and making an obscene gesture at fans who were booing him after he struck out in a game Wednesday. “I knew I hit it good but I didn’t think it was going out.”

The Astros regained first place in the Central Division by half a game over the Cardinals.

Colorado 9, Pittsburgh 3--Ellis Burks and Vinny Castilla each hit two-run home runs and Mark Thompson pitched a complete game for the Rockies at Denver.

Burks, who also tripled and doubled, homered in the first inning to highlight a three-run inning. Castilla’s homer keyed a three-run third.

Thompson (7-8) has pitched three of Colorado’s five complete games this season.

Florida 5, Cincinnati 3--Kevin Brown pitched eight strong innings and Gary Sheffield drove in two runs to reach a career-high 101 runs batted in for the Marlins at Miami.

Brown (13-10) gave up seven hits and three runs, which increased his earned-run average to 1.96. Robb Nen pitched a perfect ninth for his 26th save.