Lopez Gets Enough of This One for Padres

Luis Lopez, who nearly caught Darrin Fletcher’s tying single in the top of the eighth inning, hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning as the Padres beat Montreal, 4-3, Sunday at San Diego.

San Diego took a 3-0 lead going into the eighth on run scoring singles by Tony Gwynn and Marc Newfield, and a RBI double by Jody Reed.

Montreal, which dropped behind Atlanta in the East, rallied with three consecutive hits, including an RBI single by Mike Lansing and Fletcher’s two-run double.

“They’re a tough ballclub,” San Diego Manager Bruce Bochy said about the Expos. “We couldn’t let that one get away.”

Lopez’s fly ball to shallow left-center scored Jody Reed, who drew a leadoff walk off Dave Veres and stole second base. Tony Gwynn singled to left, but Reed was held up by third base Coach Tim Flannery until he later scored on Lopez’ sacrifice.

Montreal tried to rally in the ninth, but Moises Alou was picked off second base with no outs.

“We fight. Most of our losses are going to be tough,” Montreal Manager Felipe Alou said. “That’s the trademark of our ballclub.”

The Padres, who have led the West for 47 consecutive days, won their first series against the Expos in San Diego since July 1991.

San Francisco 1-6, New York 0-2--Allen Watson gave up three hits for eight innings in the first game and Mark Gardner pitched a six-hitter and struck out 10 to give the Giants a doubleheader sweep over the Mets at San Francisco.

Watson and Rod Beck combined on a four-hitter as the Giants won on Mark Carreon’s sacrifice fly in the sixth inning off Jason Isringhausen, who matched his career-high with eight strikeouts while walking three in seven innings. He gave up five hits, including two by Watson.

Gardner walked one while pitching his second complete game of the season as the Giants took advantage of three New York errors.

Atlanta 9, Cincinnati 5--Fred McGriff hit his 300th career homer and John Smoltz became the first nine-game winner in the majors, leading the Braves at Atlanta.

Marquis Grissom led off with a home run, and the Braves beat the Reds for the 11th consecutive time, including a four-game sweep in last year’s playoffs.

McGriff had four hits and four runs batted in as he became the 71st player to reach 300 home runs.

Smoltz (9-1) gave up only two hits in seven innings and retired his last 11 batters. Mark Wohlers got the last out for his eighth save.

Colorado 10, St. Louis 3--Ellis Burks homered in his third consecutive game and Mark Thompson pitched a seven-hitter as the Rockies won their fourth game in a row at Denver.

Andy Benes lost his seventh consecutive start, giving up six runs in six innings. His earned run average rose to 5.92.

Houston 4, Pittsburgh 3--Jeff Bagwell hit a two-out, two-run single off Jon Lieber to give the Astros the win at Houston.

After Bagwell’s two-run homer had put Houston ahead in the fifth inning, Pittsburgh tied the game in the ninth on Orlando Merced’s run scoring single and Mark Johnson’s two-run double.

Florida 8, Chicago 7--Terry Pendleton had a run-scoring double in the 11th inning as the Marlins rallied at Chicago to win for the 11th time in 13 games.

Turk Wendell walked Jeff Conine with one out and Pendleton followed with a double into the right-field corner. Matt Mantei pitched a scoreless 10th and Robb Nen, the Marlins’ seventh pitcher, finished for his 10th save in 11 chances.

Florida, which stranded 13 runners, outhit the Cubs 14-9.