Giants Win with Gift from Sheffield

Glenallen Hill, whose routine fly turned into a game-winning double when Gary Sheffield lost it against the overcast sky, can empathize. He plays right field at Candlestick Park all year.

“It’s real tough out there; I’ve caught a lot of balls I haven’t seen out there,” said Hill, whose two-out double in the eighth scored two runs to give the San Francisco Giants their eighth consecutive victory, 3-2, on Saturday over the Florida Marlins.

The sun was obscured most of the day, and Sheffield said he checked before the pitch to make sure he could see well.

“I was fine and comfortable out there,” Sheffield said. “It [the sun] just came out, and that was it. I turned to the side, like your supposed to do, hoping to get a look at it . . . and I never did.”

The ball glanced off his glove. The runners, on the move with two out, scored easily to make a hard-luck loser out of Tony Saunders (0-1), who struck out 10 in 7 1/3 innings.

“I hated to lose the game for the kid,” Sheffield said.

San Francisco, which rallied in the ninth for a 5-4 victory Friday, is off to a 12-3 start, its best since the NL West championship team of 1971. It is the longest winning streak for the Giants since a nine-gamer from July 7-18, 1994.

With San Francisco trailing, 2-1, pinch-hitter Dante Powell singled with one out off Saunders, his first major league hit. Stan Javier singled and Hill hit a two-out fly off Rick Helling. Sheffield’s troubles ensued, and the Giants scored the tying and go-ahead runs.

New York 6, Chicago 3--The winless Cubs matched the longest losing streak in their 122-year history with their 13th consecutive defeat, falling at New York.

Turk Wendell issued a leadoff walk in the seventh inning and an error set up Lance Johnson’s tiebreaking sacrifice fly. A misplayed fly ball and a botched relay added two runs in the eighth.

The Cubs, who already owned the worst start in NL history, tied the 1904 Washington Senators and 1920 Detroit Tigers for the second-poorest start ever at 0-13. Only the 1988 Baltimore Orioles were worse at 0-21.

Cub Manager Jim Riggleman was ejected by plate umpire Jeff Kellogg while making a pitching change in the sixth. He was not around when Chicago rallied for three runs in the seventh, tying the score, 3-3, on pinch-hitter Dave Clark’s two-out, two-run homer off Mark Clark (1-1).

Atlanta 8, Colorado 7--Kenny Lofton finished a home run short of the cycle and Denny Neagle won for the first time in five starts at Denver as the Braves won their seventh in a row.

Ryan Klesko added a three-run homer and a run-scoring double for the Braves, who improved to 37-13 against Colorado. Atlanta is 13-1 following two losses that started the season.

Neagle (2-0) gave up three runs in a 34-pitch first inning, then gave up only one run and three hits over the next seven.

The Braves, coming off a 14-run, 23-hit performance Friday, picked up where they left off, scoring four runs in the first and two more in the second off Kevin Ritz (1-3) to build a 6-3 lead after two innings.

Lofton, 12 for 16 in the last three games, singled and scored in the first, doubled and scored in the second and tripled home a run in the fifth. He struck out in the seventh and finished three for five, raising his average to .453.

Philadelphia 10, Montreal 8--Gregg Jefferies drove in three runs and Kevin Stocker stole home as the Phillies scored their most runs this season and defeated the Expos at Philadelphia.

Montreal lost for the ninth time in 11 games, giving up five unearned runs in the second following a throwing error by third baseman Shane Andrews.

With Philadelphia trailing, 6-5, Scott Rolen hit a two-run double in the fifth. The Phillies extended the lead to 10-6 in the sixth when Stocker stole home as Omar Daal made a pickoff attempt to first. Darren Daulton followed with hit a two-run double.

Mark Leiter (2-1) gave up six runs and five hits in six innings. Ricky Bottalico got three outs for his fourth save.

Pittsburgh 6, Cincinnati 5--Jermaine Allensworth scored on Kevin Elster’s sacrifice fly in the ninth as the Pirates manufactured the winning run without a hit to defeat the Reds at Pittsburgh.

The Pirates blew a 4-0 lead, then rallied to tie the score on Elster’s run-scoring single in the seventh. The Reds have lost five of six overall and nine of 10 on the road.

Allensworth, who was two for three and reached base four times, walked to start the ninth, then took second as a pitch from Mike Remlinger (0-1) nearly sailed to the screen behind home plate.

Brown walked on a 3-and-2 pitch that was just outside, and pinch-hitter Dale Sveum’s force-play grounder moved Allensworth to third. Allensworth scored ahead of Deion Sanders’ throw to the plate on Elster’s fly to medium center.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Henry Rodriguez

Team: Montreal

Performance: 2 or 4, 4 RBI, double, HR

Team’s Result: Loss

*

Player: Kenny Lofton

Team: Atlanta

Performance: 3 for 5, only HR short of cycle, stolen base

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Eric Young

Team: Colorado

Performance: 3 for 4, 2 runs, triple, stolen base

Team’s Result: Loss

PITCHING

Player: Tony Saunders

Team: Florida

Player: 7 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs, 10 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Loss

*

Player: Shawn Estes

Team: San Francisco

Performance: 8 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 6 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Denny Neagle

Team: Atlanta

Performance: First victory in five starts at Coors Field

Team’s Result: Win