Frustration Continues as Pirates Beat Brown

Jason Schmidt is the National League’s winningest pitcher, but he knows that success can be fleeting.

All he had to do Thursday night is look out of the dugout at his opposite number for the San Diego Padres, Kevin Brown.

The Pirates beat Brown, 3-2, at Pittsburgh, and it was the second time this season they have handled him. They had help when Brown ran into trouble with plate umpire Tom Hallion after hitting Lou Collier in the ribs with a pitch in the second inning. Brown had also hit Jason Kendall in the first.

“I thought he was throwing at the guy with the ball in his back,” Hallion said.

Brown disagreed, as did Padre Manager Bruce Bochy.

“In that situation, nobody out, a runner on first and a 2-0 lead, he’s not trying to hit anybody,” Bochy said. “I guess they felt like they would stop anything before it developed.”

The Pirates started the next inning with five consecutive hits. Did the warning disrupt Brown?

“I think it could play a difference,” Bochy said. “He could answer that better.”

No, he couldn’t. Brown eyed several reporters near his locker and waved them off by saying, “Don’t even bother.”

His frustration was understandable. The Pirates’ rally included a double that looked like a potential double play ball until it took a turf hop over third baseman Ed Giovanola. Brown made an error that contributed to the inning too.

“He’s frustrated right now and so are we,” Tony Gwynn said. “When he pitches we don’t seem to score any runs, and it doesn’t seem like the other team hits the ball hard against him. It’s a bleeder here and a bleeder there.”

Enough bleeders to give Schmidt (7-1) his sixth consecutive victory, which makes him wary.

“It’s nice but you know how this game is,” he said. “Just when you start getting too high, you can get knocked right back down.”

Schmidt gave up two runs in the first inning, then shut down the Padres over the next seven. He gave up six hits and struck out six.

The Padres, suffering offensively without injured third baseman Ken Caminiti, scored four runs in their three losses to the Pirates in the series.

“It looks like they have a real good pitching staff,” Bochy said. “They’re going to cause some problems for a lot of clubs.”

Schmidt said he was helped by facing the West Division-leading Padres.

“That’s a great lineup and I had to concentrate on every single pitch tonight,” he said. “When you’re facing a guy who has stuff as nasty as Kevin Brown, there’s no margin for error. I’m mentally drained right now. I’m whipped.”

Brown (3-3) has one victory in his last seven starts.

New York 6, Cincinnati 1--Masato Yoshii (3-1) struck out nine batters in his first major league complete game, pitching the Mets to a victory at New York.

Yoshii (3-1), a 33-year-old rookie from Japan, gave up nine hits. He has a 2.25 earned-run average in eight starts for the Mets.

Carlos Baerga had three hits, including a home run, and drove in three runs. John Olerud also homered for the Mets.

Atlanta 2, Colorado 0--Denny Neagle and two relievers combined on an eight-hit shutout for the Braves, who won for the 10th time in 12 games.

Neagle (6-1) won for the fifth time in a row and is 15-1 at home since joining the Braves in August 1996. He gave up eight hits and struck out six in 7 1/3 innings.

Dennis Martinez got Dante Bichette to hit into an inning-ending double play with runners on first and second in the eighth inning. Kerry Ligtenberg pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save.

Chipper Jones broke a scoreless tie with a run-scoring single in the third inning that scored Walt Weiss, who had singled and stolen second.

The Braves, who have won 19 of their last 23 games, added a run off Darryl Kile (5-5) in the fifth inning on Andres Galarraga’s run-scoring single.

Philadelphia 4, St. Louis 3--Bobby Abreu scored the decisive run in the sixth inning after his popup dropped for a gift double, and the Phillies ended a five-game losing streak by winning at Philadelphia.

With two outs in the sixth, Abreu hit a foul pop to third. But a severe gust of wind blew the ball into fair territory, and third baseman Gary Gaetti missed it.

The ball ricocheted off the ground and struck Gaetti in the face, giving Abreu a double. Kevin Jordan doubled home Abreu, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

Gaetti was taken to a local hospital, but a Cardinal spokesman said there was no serious damage. Gaetti has a bruised left eye and is listed as day-to-day.

San Francisco 8, Milwaukee 1--Kirk Rueter gave up one hit through eight innings for the Giants, who won at Milwaukee.

The Brewers’ only hit off Rueter came when Jeromy Burnitz hit his 10th homer leading off the second inning.

San Francisco pounded out a season-high 17 hits, including four from Bill Mueller.

Houston 6, Montreal 0--Shane Reynolds pitched a five-hitter for his first shutout in more than two years, leading the Astros at Montreal.

Reynolds (4-3) struck out nine and walked one, and only two Expos got past first base.

All five of Montreal’s hits were singles. Reynolds retired the side in order in the first, third, sixth and seventh innings.