Giants One-Up Marlins’ Rookie Pitcher

The San Francisco Giants handed rookie Livan Hernandez his first loss, and they needed only one run to do it.

Four Giants combined on an eight-hitter, and Julian Tavarez escaped from a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the sixth inning to help San Francisco beat the slumping Florida Marlins, 1-0, Friday at Miami.

The win moved the Giants into first place in the NL West, one game ahead of the Dodgers, who lost to Houston, 10-3.

Hernandez (9-1) gave up five hits in seven innings before he departed for a pinch-hitter with the Marlins trailing 1-0.

First baseman Jeff Conine’s error led to the run, which scored on Brian Johnson’s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Rod Beck pitched a perfect ninth for his 37th save.

While Conine committed a costly error, Florida catcher Charles Johnson extended his streak of consecutive errorless games to 160, breaking Rick Cerone’s major league record at the position.

Philadelphia 2-9, Cincinnati 4-1--Uncharacteristically bad fielding spoiled the Reds’ chances of a doubleheader sweep at Philadelphia.

The Reds, who entered the day with a league-low 96 errors, made four in the second game.

Cincinnati was held scoreless for eight innings by Mark Leiter (10-15), who gave up Ed Taubensee’s sacrifice fly in the ninth.

It was the third complete game of the season for Leiter, who pitched a five-hitter, struck out four and walked one.

Bobby Estalella hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning of the second game, giving the rookie catcher four homers in his last four hits.

In the first game, Mike Remlinger (7-8) gave up two runs and six hits in 7 2/3 innings, winning for the first time since Aug. 15. He struck out eight--one short of his season high--and walked one.

Jeff Shaw pitched the ninth for his 35th save in 41 chances.

Pittsburgh 3, Chicago 1--They again left runners on base and again failed to get clutch hits. The difference was that the Pirates won, thanks to pitching.

Struggling to stay in the NL Central race, the Pirates benefited from nine walks by Chicago starter Miguel Batista in four-plus innings and went on to beat the Cubs at Pittsburgh.

Batista (0-4) gave up only three hits, but threw 51 balls among his 99 pitches.

Between them, Batista and reliever Rodney Myers walked 12 in seven innings, but the Pirates also stranded 12 runners.

Despite the lack of run support, Jason Schmidt (9-7) gave the Pirates the kind of starting pitching they often lacked while losing 12 of their previous 16. He retired 12 in a row at one point, giving up six hits over eight innings while winning for the fifth time in six decisions.

The Pirates’ only clutch hit was ex-Cub Shawon Dunston’s RBI single in the fifth off Rodney Myers. Not surprisingly, walks led to all of the Pirates’ runs.

Montreal 3, New York 2--Rondell White’s two-out homer in the 15th inning sent the Expos to the win at New York and prevented the Mets from picking up a game on Florida in the NL wild-card race.

White hit a 1-and-0 pitch from Joe Crawford (2-2) over the wall in left to end the 4-hour 21-minute game. It was the fifth game to go 15 innings in the majors this season, and the second involving the Mets.

Jose Panaguia (1-2) pitched the 14th for the win, and Ugueth Urbina got three outs for his 26th save.

The Mets stranded the potential winning run at third in both the 10th and 12th, and at second in the 14th. New York got the tying run to second in the 15th with one out, but Urbina got Carl Everett on a fly to right and struck out Luis Lopez.

With the Mets trailing, 2-0, Edgardo Alfonzo led off the eighth against Anthony Telford with a sinking liner to left-center that bounced off charging center fielder White’s leg and kicked to the wall for a triple.

John Olerud, who hit for the cycle Thursday, followed with an RBI single. Bernard Gilkey’s base hit sent pinch-runner Carlos Mendoza to third and Carlos Baerga tied it with a sacrifice fly.

Expo starter Marc Valdes didn’t give up a hit until the sixth, when Alfonzo beat out an infield grounder to third. After Olerud grounded into a double play, Gilkey lined a double. But Valdes got Baerga on an inning-ending fly.

Colorado 3, Atlanta 1--Greg Maddux was headed to a four-hit shutout, needing only 88 pitches to get through eight innings.

Then the four-time Cy Young Award winner took himself out of the game, and Colorado’s bats sure woke up fast.

Larry Walker hit a score-tying single and Andres Galarraga hit a two-run double as the Rockies rallied at Atlanta.

Maddux, who lowered his ERA to 2.22, walked none for the 17th time in 31 starts.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Rondell White Montreal 2-out home run in Win 15th to end game Bobby Estalella Philadelphia 3-run home run Win A. Galarraga Colorado 2-run double Win

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PITCHING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Rod Beck San Francisco Perfect 9th for league- Win leading 37th save Mark Leiter Cincinnati 7 2/3 innings, 5 hits, Win 4 strikeouts, 1 walk Greg Maddux Atlanta 4 strikeouts, 0 walks Loss in 88 pitches

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