Schilling Shines as Phillies Rally

Curt Schilling became the National League’s first six-game winner, pitching his second consecutive complete game Wednesday to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a come-from-behind 8-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

“We’re a very confident team right now,” he said. “If I would have given up four runs the past five years, that’s a loss. It’s not this year. You can’t pitch like that on a consistent basis, but for them to pick me up like that is huge.”

Schilling (6-1) fell behind, 4-0, in the fourth when Mark McGwire and Eli Marrero hit two-run homers.

McGwire’s homer was his eighth of the season and 465th of his career, tying Dave Winfield for 19th on the all-time list. McGwire had been 0 for 9 with six strikeouts against Schilling before the home run.

“He goes right at you,” McGwire said. “He says, ‘Here it is, hit it.’ That’s why he’s one of the best. You get four runs off Schilling, that normally should be good enough.”

It wasn’t.

Schilling become the second six-game winner in the major leagues, after Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox, who beat the Seattle Mariners later Wednesday for his seventh victory. Schilling, who later Wednesday was joined by Jose Lima of the Houston Astros as a six-game winner, gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked none in his third complete game of the season.

AROUND THE MAJORS / Freak Injury Sidelines Mecir

Relief pitcher Jim Mecir of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays suffered a broken right elbow when he tripped during batting practice Wednesday at St. Petersburg, Fla., and will sit out the rest of the season. He fell while running after a ball before a 9-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins. . . . Tom McCraw, the Houston Astros’ hitting coach, will leave the team after Sunday’s game to begin treatment for prostate cancer. . . . Catcher Mitch Meluskey and reliever Doug Henry of the Houston Astros each had surgery, with Meluskey to sit out the rest of the season after doctors tightened ligaments in his right shoulder. Henry, a right-hander who underwent arthroscopic surgery to have three large bone spurs removed from the back of his throwing elbow, is expected to be sidelined six to eight weeks. . . . Shortstop Pat Meares of the Pittsburgh Pirates is headed back to the disabled list for the second time this year because of a damaged tendon in his left hand. Meares sat out the first 14 games of the season because of a sprained left wrist before returning April 23.