National League Roundup : Maddux Is Unlucky in Defeat by Cardinals

Even in defeat, Greg Maddux continues to establish himself as the Chicago Cubs’ best pitcher.

The 22-year-old right-hander suffered a tough loss Tuesday at Chicago when rookie second baseman Luis Alicea hit a bad-hop single with two out in the 11th inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-0 victory.

Before his record fell to 6-3, Maddux extended his scoreless-innings streak to 26. He had given up only 2 singles in 10 innings, but then he allowed singles by Tom Brunansky, Bob Horner and Tony Pena to fill the bases.

Still, Maddux seemed about to escape when Alicea’s grounder headed for second baseman Ryne Sandberg. As Sandberg reached to field it, the ball took a high hop over his head, and two runs scored. Versatile Jose Oquendo, a third baseman in this game, also singled to drive in the final run and send Maddux to the showers.

“I’ve had my share of breaks this year,” Maddux said. “They had good pitching from (John) Tudor and the bullpen, so give them credit.”

It will take more than a bad hop to dampen Maddux’s spirits. He has made a strong turnaround from last season, when he was 6-14 with an earned-run average of 5.61.

Maddux credits playing winter ball in Venezuela under pitching coach Dick Pole for his recovery.

“Things that happened last season won’t happen again, because of Dick Pole,” Maddux said. “He helped me regain my confidence and he taught me a lot about pitching. He worked with me on my breaking pitch.

“Last year in tight situations, I didn’t want to walk anybody, so I just threw a fastball, and they hit it. But Dick has helped me get confidence in my breaking ball, and I’ll throw it any time.”

Maddux was one out away from his fifth complete game. Two of his defeats have come in games in which the Cubs didn’t score.

Tudor was a worthy foe for the new Chicago ace. He faced the minimum 21 batters through 7 innings and went 9, giving up just 3 hits.

Scott Perry (1-0) pitched a perfect 10th, and Todd Worrell came on to get his 11th save.

It was the fourth extra-inning game in a row at home for the Cubs.

Atlanta 6, Cincinnati 2--No matter what kind of season he’s having, Rick Mahler always knows things will get better when he faces the Reds.

In this game at Cincinnati, Mahler improved his record against the Reds to 12-2. Mahler, who pitched 8 scoreless innings in relief last Saturday, went 7 innings, giving up 7 hits and 2 runs.

The Reds are hurting. They were without Eric Davis because of an injury, and during the game catcher Bo Diaz and third baseman Chris Sabo were hurt.

Dale Murphy, Andres Thomas and Gary Roenicke hit home runs in support of Mahler (3-4). Murphy, fighting a season-long slump, has only 5 homers and 12 RBIs in 35 games.

Houston 3, Pittsburgh 2--Mike Scott lost a potential no-hitter on an infield hit in the sixth inning at Houston, then settled for his fifth victory without a defeat.

Scott struck out 10 and gave up 3 hits in 7 innings. He passed teammate Nolan Ryan to take over the National League strikeout lead with 73. Juan Agosto and Dave Smith shut off the Pirates in the last two innings.

Kevin Bass had two hits, scored a run and drove in another to pace the Astros’ attack.

New York 1, San Diego 0--David Cone struck out a career-high 12 at San Diego to improve his record to 5-0.

Keith Hernandez scored the only run on a wild pitch by relief pitcher Mark Davis. Davis took over after Eric Show pitched seven scoreless innings. Hernandez singled to open the eighth, stole second and went to third on Darryl Strawberry’s ground-out. Then Davis made his wild pitch.

It was the league-leading eighth shutout for the Mets.

The Padres’ best chance to score was in the first inning. They had runners on second and third with one out, but Cone struck out Keith Moreland and got Randy Ready on a fly ball.

Philadelphia 8, San Francisco 1--Kevin Gross held the Giants to six hits at San Francisco, and Von Hayes had three of the Phillies’ 15 hits.

After sweeping three from the New York Mets, the best in the East, the Giants have lost two in a row to the worst in the East.

Gross (4-1) pitched his third complete game and lowered his earned-run average to 1.69. He walked 5 and struck out 3. He also contributed two hits to the Phillies’ attack.