Reds Win Again but Fail to Gain Ground

They win with homers. They win with singles. The only thing the Cincinnati Reds can’t do is win enough to move up in the Central Division.

Greg Vaughn drove in two runs, becoming the first Cincinnati player to reach 100 RBIs in 10 years, as the Reds beat the Florida Marlins, 11-5, Sunday at Cincinnati to extend their winning streak to six games.

After setting various records by hitting 29 homers in their previous nine games, the Reds didn’t hit one, but they still won going away.

Aaron Boone drove in four runs with a bases-loaded double and a bases-loaded single, helping Cincinnati score seven runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

The second-place Reds have won nine of 10 but remained three games behind Houston in the division with 19 game left. The Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-1.

“I think we can ride this thing out to the bitter end ourselves,” outfielder Dmitri Young said. “If the Astros are going to take it, they’ll have to play .900 ball the rest of the month.”

Houston 7, Chicago 1--Chris Holt won for the first time in nearly a month as the Astros extended their winning streak to 10, tying the club record, at Houston.

Sammy Sosa went two for four, but failed to homer for the third game in a row and remained at 59 with 19 games remaining. Sosa hasn’t homered in 15 consecutive at-bats, but remained four homers ahead of Mark McGwire.

San Francisco 8, Atlanta 4--Barry Bonds hit his 442nd home run, tying Dave Kingman for 22nd place on the career list, and the Giants beat Greg Maddux for the first time in more than three years.

Maddux (18-7), who had won his previous eight starts since a July 21 loss at Florida, had been 5-0 against the Giants since July 25, 1996. He walked five for the first time in 140 starts since Aug. 9, 1995, giving up six runs--five earned--and 10 hits in five innings at San Francisco.

Arizona 5, Philadelphia 0--Todd Stottlemyre pitched six shutout innings at Phoenix in his strongest outing since returning from a rotator-cuff injury as the Diamondbacks handed the Phillies their ninth consecutive loss.

The victory was the Diamondbacks’s 86th, tying them with the 1962 Angels for the most wins by a second-year franchise.

Milwaukee 12, Colorado 9--The Brewers, who wasted leads of 5-0 and 7-3 at Denver, avoided being swept for the sixth time this year. They are 10-20 since Jim Lefebvre replaced Phil Garner as manager Aug. 11.