Maddux Subdues Cubs on 78 Pitches

Greg Maddux needed only 78 pitches to beat his former team--the fewest in a complete game in nearly seven years--as the visiting Braves beat the Cubs, 4-1, in the opener of a doubleheader Tuesday.

Maddux looked like the best pitcher of the ‘90s in winning the first game. In the second game, however, the Braves didn’t resemble the NL’s best team this decade.

Chicago won, 5-4, scoring the go-ahead run in the eighth on consecutive errors by shortstop Jeff Blauser and third baseman Chipper Jones.

Maddux (14-3) pitched a five-hitter, needing only 2 hours, 7 minutes to become the NL’s first 14-game winner.

“He’s a brilliant, brilliant pitcher. If my life depended on one game, I’d want him to throw it,” Chicago’s Mark Grace said of his good friend and former teammate.

“I think the wind is blowing in every time I pitch here,” Maddux said. “That helps. It’s one of those things.”

Maddux threw 63 strikes. His pitch total, according to Stats Inc., was the lowest in a major-league complete game since Aug. 29, 1990, when Bob Tewksbury threw 76 for St. Louis against Cincinnati.

“I hadn’t heard that one,” said Maddux, who threw only 86 pitches in beating the New York Yankees earlier this season. “I thought they [the Cubs] were aggressive and rightfully so. If you are going to get me, get me early in the count. Why not? That’s not bad to do.”

Houston 4, St. Louis 2--Mike Hampton expected to be bunting when he came to bat with the score tied in the fifth inning and runners at first and third.

“I never got the bunt sign, so I was trying to get the bat on the ball and put it in play,” Hampton said, describing his two-run single that led the Astros at St. Louis.

Hampton took the first pitch as Tim Bogar stole second. Hampton, a .106 hitter, singled to right to drive in two runs and break the 2-2 tie.

Hampton (7-7) gave up only two runs in seven innings as the first-place Astros extended their lead over the third-place Cardinals to 3 1/2 games in the NL Central.

The Cardinals scored two runs in the first inning, but Hampton held them to two hits and a walk until he left after seven.

“The Cardinals were very aggressive at the plate, but once I was able to get my breaking pitches over, they didn’t have much luck against me,” Hampton said.

Colorado 11, Montreal 9--Vinny Castilla capped his first career five-hit game with his second homer, a two-run shot with two outs in the 12th inning, to lead the Rockies at Montreal.

Castilla went five for seven with four RBIs and had his 13th career multi-homer game, and second of the season.

Rookie Neifi Perez led off the 12th with a single off Dave Veres (2-3), and two outs later Castilla hit a 2-0 pitch just inside the left-field foul pole for his 27th homer.

Steve Reed (2-4) gave up one hit and one walk in three innings of relief as the Rockies won for only the third time in 19 games. Montreal has lost four of five.

Trailing, 9-7, the Expos tied it, 9-9, in the eighth on Darrin Fletcher’s two-out homer off Jeff McCurry and Mike Lansing’s infield single with the bases loaded.

Castilla hit his 26th homer and added an RBI single in Colorado’s four-run third, and Harvey Pulliam recorded his first four-hit game.

Cincinnati 7, Florida 6--Reggie Sanders did it all in his return from a two-month ankle injury.

Sanders hit two homers, drove in three runs and restored some swagger to a downtrodden lineup while leading the Reds at Cincinnati.

Cincinnati had lost its previous four games by batting .202.

The solo homer by Sanders started a comeback from a three-run deficit, and his two-run homer in the seventh put the Reds ahead to stay. The Reds hit three homers in a six-run seventh, with Mike Kelly and Bret Boone also going deep for a 7-3 lead.

“Man alive, what a debut,” Manager Ray Knight said. “The whole ballclub responded. Joe Oliver was going up and down the bench saying, ‘We’ve got to get it in a different gear.’ It seemed like we were kind of going along in neutral. We were down 3-0 and we had nothing going on, then Reggie hits the home run.”

San Diego 3, Pittsburgh 2--Greg Vaughn’s infield single scored Chris Jones with the winning run, capping a two-run rally in the ninth inning that gave the Padres a victory over the visiting Pirates.

With the Padres trailing, 2-1, Ken Caminiti led off the ninth with an infield single off Ricardo Rincon. One out later, Rincon was relieved by Rich Loiselle (1-2), who allowed Jones’ pinch-hit single.

Chris Gomez singled to center to tie the game. John Flaherty’s infield single loaded the bases before Vaughn, who homered as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, hit a high chopper over the pitcher’s mound.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Vinny Castilla

Team: Colorado

Performance: 5 for 7, 4 RBIs, 2 homers

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Reggie Sanders

Team: Cincinnati

Performance: 2 for 4, 2 homers in return

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Harvey Pulliam

Team: Colorado

Performance: 4 for 7, 2 RBIs, first four-hit game

Team’s Result: Win

PITCHING

Player: Greg Maddux

Team: Atlanta

Performance: 9 innings, 5 hits, only 78 pitches

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Mike Hampton

Team: Houston

Performance: 7 innings, 2 runs, had game-winning hit

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Steve Reed

Team: Colorado

Performance: 3 innings of relief, one hit, one walk

Team’s Result: Win