Giants Retain Share of Lead With 8-4 Win Over Rockies

With one game to go, the San Francisco Giants still share the National League wild-card lead.

Stan Javier homered twice Saturday to double his season total as the surging Giants defeated the Colorado Rockies, 8-4, at Denver to stretch their winning streak to six games.

“We’ve come together emotionally and mentally,” winning pitcher Orel Hershiser said. “It took everyone writing us off and maybe even us believing that we were out of it to relax and go out and play.”

The Giants (89-72), who trailed the Chicago Cubs by five games only 10 days ago, remained tied with the Cubs atop the wild-card race.

The Cubs kept pace with a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros at Houston while the New York Mets (88-73) fell one game back after a 4-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves at Atlanta.

Kirk Rueter (16-9) pitches for the Giants today against Jamie Wright (9-14).

With the score tied at 1-1, the Giants broke open Saturday’s game with a five-run fourth. The Giants got just enough pitching, with Hershiser (11-10) giving up four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

The Giants, who have won nine of 10, haven’t had sole possession of the wild-card lead since July 18, when they were a half-game ahead of the Cubs.

The Rockies’ Larry Walker went three for four to raise his league-leading average to .362, nine points ahead of the Mets’ John Olerud.

Atlanta 4, New York 0--When they could least afford it, the Mets are in a full-scale slump after losing their last four games.

Andruw Jones’ two-run double highlighted a three-run sixth inning at Atlanta as the Braves further damaged the Mets wild-card hopes.

“It’s a long year, and you’re going to have spells where you’re not playing good baseball,” said Mike Piazza, who has stranded 11 runners in the last two games. “But this is the worst time of year for it. It’s very frustrating.”

Having already secured home-field advantage throughout the league playoffs, the Braves took care of another piece of business: picking up their 105th victory to set a franchise record.

Florida 4-1, Philadelphia 3-0--Curt Schilling became the fifth pitcher in major league history to strike out 300 batters in consecutive seasons, fanning Kevin Orie in the seventh inning of the opener, but he couldn’t keep the Phillies from being swept at Miami.

In the second game, Alex Gonzalez’s 13th-inning homer against Ricky Bottalico (1-5) gave the Marlins a their first-ever doubleheader sweep.

Orie was Schilling’s seventh and final strikeout victim of the opener. Schilling, who struck out 319 last season, joined J.R. Richard (1978-79), Nolan Ryan (1972-74 and 1976-77), Sandy Koufax (1965-66) and Rube Waddell (1903-04) as the only pitchers to accomplish the feat.

Arizona 3, San Diego 2--Amaury Telemaco pitched 6 2/3 strong innings and had a run-scoring double for the Diamondbacks at Phoenix.

The Diamondbacks (65-96) are the fourth-winningest expansion team, breaking a five-way tie with the 1962 Houston Colt .45s, the 1969 Seattle Pilots, the 1977 Seattle Mariners and the 1993 Florida Marlins.

Matt Williams’ 20th homer broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning. He and Barry Bonds are the only players to hit at least 20 homers each of the last nine seasons.

Cincinnati 6, Pittsburgh 3--Eddie Taubensee hit a three-run homer and the Pirates ran themselves out of a three-run homer of their own at Cincinnati.

Jose Guillen passed Adrian Brown as they rounded second base on Kevin Brown’s homer in the fourth inning, turning what should have been a three-run homer into a two-run shot.

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Wild Tiebreakers

Where the National League wild card will be determined if teams finish in a tie:

TWO-WAY TIE (MONDAY)

* Chicago vs. San Francisco--at Chicago

* New York vs. Chicago--at New York

* New York vs. San Francisco--at New York

THREE-WAY TIE

* Monday--San Francisco at New York

* Tuesday--Chicago at N.Y.-S.F. winner