Daal Not Tricky Enough for Cubs

Once again, Omar Daal was a tough deal for the Chicago Cubs, throwing with a herky-jerky motion and releasing pitches from a variety of angles at different speeds.

He shut them out five days earlier and was doing it again Tuesday night in a fast-paced matchup with Kevin Tapani.

Then, with two out in the eighth, the Cubs finally solved the Arizona Diamondbacks’ left-hander. They found a way to score a run.

“Tapani and Daal were going pitch to pitch. I didn’t see either weakening or tiring,” Mickey Morandini said after his two-out, eighth-inning single broke a scoreless tie and sent the Cubs to a 2-0 victory at Chicago.

“Daal is tricky. And with two strikes, you’re not looking to do much but make contact,” Morandini said. “I got a chance to do something.”

Daal (5-6) struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the eighth. And after pinch-hitter Jeff Blauser singled and Lance Johnson walked, he got ahead of Morandini 0-and-2.

Morandini then fouled off three pitches, almost striking out before slapping a single to right with pinch-runner Tyler Houston beating the throw to the plate.

New York 7, San Francisco 6--The Mets broke a streak of seven consecutive extra-inning losses when Lenny Harris drew a bases-loaded walk from Jose Mesa with two out in the 10th for the victory at New York.

The Mets won for the 11th time in 16 games and snapped the Giants’ four-game winning streak.

Atlanta 4, Cincinnati 2--Andruw Jones hit a tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning at Atlanta, enabling John Smoltz to become the Braves’ fifth starter with at least 10 victories.

Smoltz (10-2) gave up two runs and seven hits in joining Greg Maddux (14), Tom Glavine (14), Kevin Millwood (12) and Denny Neagle (11) with 10 or more victories this year. Smoltz had a career-high three hits.

St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 1--Mark McGwire didn’t homer but he helped the Cardinals win at Milwaukee for the first time since the 1982 World Series.

McGwire, who hasn’t hit a home run in 24 at-bats, went one for two, walked twice, doubled and scored a run.

The Brewers loaded the bases on three walks--one intentional--in the ninth before Matt Morris got rookie Bobby Hughes to hit into a fielder’s choice for the final out.

Houston 9, Florida 5--Moises Alou started the scoring against former teammate Livan Hernandez (9-8) with a two-run double in the first at Miami.

Hernandez gave up seven runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings, his worst outing since April 20.

The start of the game was delayed almost two hours by rain.

San Diego 3, Philadelphia 1--Greg Vaughn, stuck in a four-for-42 slump, hit his 39th homer as the Padres defeated the Phillies at San Diego and handed them their sixth loss in a row.

Two of Vaughn’s previous four hits were homers, and he’s only three shy of surpassing his career-best of 41 set in 1996. Vaughn is third in the NL in homers, six behind Mark McGwire and three behind Sammy Sosa.