Reds Use ‘M&Ms;’ to Melt Padres, 3-1

Mike Morgan pitched six shutout innings and Hal Morris had two RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres for the seventh consecutive time, 3-1, Friday night at San Diego.

Morgan (6-8), making his second start since signing with the Reds on Sept. 3, allowed only three hits and let just one runner reach third base. The right-hander, released by St. Louis on Aug. 28, retired 12 batters on grounders, including double plays in each of the first two innings.

Jeff Brantley pitched the ninth for his 39th save, tying the Reds’ record set by John Franco in 1988.

Morris went three for four with a solo homer and RBI double.

San Diego starter Andy Ashby (8-5) lasted six innings, yielding two runs and three hits. He has lost three in a row and is winless in his last six starts.

Morris hit his career-high 15th homer in the second, and gave the Reds a 2-0 lead in the fourth with a double that scored Eric Davis.

The Reds added another run in the seventh when pinch-hitter Lenny Harris beat out an infield single, scoring Morris.

San Diego cut it to 3-1 in the seventh on Steve Finley’s RBI single off reliever Jeff Shaw. But with runners on first and second, Shaw got John Flaherty to bounce into an inning-ending double play, the Reds’ third of the game.

New York 6, Atlanta 4--Rey Ordonez’s one-out RBI double in the eighth inning at New York sent the Mets over the slumping Braves, who lost their fifth in a row.

The Braves have lost 10 of their last 12, and are in their second five-game losing slide in two weeks.

With the score tied, 4-4, in the eighth, Carl Everett beat out an infield single against Joe Borowski (2-3) before the game was delayed for 53 minutes by rain.

When play resumed, Edgardo Alfonzo sacrificed Everett to second. Ordonez followed by lining an RBI double to left. Dean Hartgraves relieved Borowski and allowed Lance Johnson’s RBI single to make it 6-4.

Colorado 6, Houston 3--Dante Bichette hit a record-setting home run and the Rockies got clutch relief pitching at Denver.

The win extended the Rockies’ winning streak to five games and kept them alive in the race for the National League wild-card berth. Houston lost for the eighth time in the 11 games the Astros have played this month.

Bichette’s 30th home run helped the Rockies establish two NL records. The right fielder joined left fielder Ellis Burks (38), first baseman Andres Galarraga (43) and third baseman Vinny Castilla (37) in making Colorado the first team to have four players with 30 or more home runs in two seasons.

Bichette, Galarraga, Castilla and outfielder Larry Walker achieved that feat in 1995, equaling the mark achieved by the Dodger foursome of Steve Garvey, Reggie Smith, Ron Cey and Dusty Baker in 1977.

Bichette also has 30 stolen bases to go along with the 30 stolen by Burks. The only other NL club to have two 30-30 players in the same season is New York, with Howard Johnson (36 home runs, 32 stolen bases) and Darryl Strawberry (39-32) in 1987.

Chicago 4, Philadelphia 2--Steve Trachsel, who won his first game since Aug. 17, pitched seven strong innings for the Cubs at Chicago.

Trachsel (12-8) gave up eight hits, including homers by Greg Jefferies and Gene Schall. He also ended talk of a Wrigley Field jinx: Entering this season with a 3-16 record at home, he’s now 9-5 there in 1996 with a 2.51 ERA.

Montreal 3, Florida 2--Henry Rodriguez and Shane Andrews homered and Rondell White hit a tie-breaking single in the sixth at Montreal.

With the score tied, 2-2, David Segui and Darrin Fletcher drew two-out walks off Marlin starter Rick Helling (1-1). Kurt Miller relieved and White hit a run-scoring single to give Montreal its third consecutive victory.

Pittsburgh 9, San Francisco 0--At San Francisco, Jeff King hit his third grand slam this season and Esteban Loaiza pitched his first career shutout for his first win in over a year.

The Giants, losers of 12 of their last 14, surrendered their 11th grand slam, an NL record. This year’s Detroit Tigers hold the major league record of 12.