It’s a Total Loss for Benes, Cardinals

Alan Benes lost his no-hitter on Michael Tucker’s two-out double in the ninth inning Friday night and the Atlanta Braves scored in the 13th on Andruw Jones’ infield dribbler for a 1-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta.

Benes, bidding to pitch the first no-hitter of the season and the first in Turner Field’s brief history, more than matched Greg Maddux for eight innings before 46,626, the largest crowd at the new ballpark.

In the ninth, Benes got Keith Lockhart on a soft liner to short to open the inning before retiring Kenny Lofton on a grounder.

Benes got a strike on Tucker, who then hit an opposite-field double to right. After allowing the hit, Benes walked off the mound and dejectedly pulled off his glove. However, he sent the game to extra innings by striking out Fred McGriff.

When he returned to the St. Louis dugout, Benes got a hug from his brother, Andy, also a St. Louis starter. Benes walked three and struck out a career-high 11.

The teams combined for 33 strikeouts, three shy of matching the NL record for an extra-inning game last done by the Giants and Mets in a 23-inning game in 1964.

In the 13th, Tucker singled with one out off John Frascatore (2-2) and stole second. Chipper Jones’ fly to right moved Tucker to third and Fred McGriff was intentionally walked.

Andruw Jones then beat out a slow roller between the mound and first base, allowing Tucker to score. Tucker had three of the Braves’ seven hits.

Joe Borowski (1-0) pitched a scoreless 13th for the win.

Florida 3, Pittsburgh 1--Alex Fernandez got the only two runs he needed in the first inning and the Marlins celebrated Manager Jim Leyland’s return to Pittsburgh with a victory.

Rookie Todd Dunwoody, making his second major-league start, had a run-scoring triple in the first and an RBI double in the eighth as the Marlins won their fifth in a row.

Leyland’s return to the city where he managed for 11 years was far less emotional than his teary-eyed farewell in September. The two-time NL manager of the year received a few boos and cheers when introduced. He never made an on-field appearance.

Leyland arrived in town as the kiddie corps Pirates he left behind unexpectedly moved into first place in the NL Central. But the Pirates’ fourth loss in six games dropped them back into second place.

Jon Lieber (1-5) lost his fifth in a row as the Pirates, who have managed only 21 runs in his nine starts, again failed to give him much support. Only 11 of the runs have come with Lieber in the game.

Chicago 16, San Diego 7--Sammy Sosa drove in a career-high six runs, three on a triple in an eight-run third inning, at Chicago.

Sosa went four for four and the Cubs had a season-high in hits (21) and runs scored. Brian McRae also had four hits for the Cubs.

The Padres have lost four in a row and 19 of their last 25 games.

The Cubs had 11 batters come to the plate against starting pitcher Tim Worrell (2-5) and reliever Will Cunnane in the third.

Cub starting pitcher Kevin Foster (4-3) and Doug Glanville each had two-run singles before Sosa’s bases-loaded triple to right-center made the score, 12-1.

Sosa hit a home run in the fifth, his seventh.

Houston 12, Philadelphia 7--Craig Biggio hit home runs in his first two at-bats and the Astros scored 11 runs in the first two innings at Philadelphia.

Biggio led off Houston’s seven-run first inning by hitting Mark Leiter’s second pitch for his sixth home run. Thomas Howard doubled, Jeff Bagwell walked, and Luis Gonzalez and Bob Abreu followed with run-scoring singles.

Bill Spiers hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0. After Ricky Gutierrez was hit by a pitch, Brad Ausmus followed with a three-run home run to knock out Leiter (3-4). The seven runs were the most scored by the Astros in an inning this season.

Biggio’s three-run homer capped Houston’s four-run second off reliever Michael Mimbs. A throwing error by Mimbs allowed the first run to score before Biggio capped his seventh career multi-homer game.

Astro starting pitcher Chris Holt (5-3) threw six strong innings, giving up three runs and six hits.

Colorado 2, New York 1--Larry Walker hit his league-leading 14th home run, a two-run drive off Greg McMichael in the eighth inning, that gave the Rockies a comeback victory at New York.

Walker, who leads the National League with a .412 average, homered 419 feet to dead center after Ellis Burks’ one-out single. It lifted Colorado to 2-5 on its 13-game road trip.

McMichael (3-4) had just relieved Mark Clark, who gave up five hits in seven innings, struck out six and walked two.

Mike Munoz (1-0) won for the first time since Aug. 25.

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BEST OF THE DAY

Batting

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Sammy Sosa Chicago 4 for 4, 2 Runs, 6 RBIs Won David Segal Montreal 4 for 6, 1 HR, 3 runs, 2 RBIs Won Craig Biggio Houston 2 for 5, 2 HRs, 2 Runs, 4 RBIs Won Larry Walker Colorado 2 for 3, 1 HR, 1 Run, 2 RBIs Won

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Pitching

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Alan Benes St. Louis 9 innings, 1 hit 0 runs, 11 strikeouts Loss Alex Fernandez Florida 8 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 8 strikeouts Won

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