NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Matt Williams Out for 6 Weeks

Giant Manager Dusty Baker softly put the phone down and cursed. A Saturday afternoon victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1, at San Francisco, didn’t seem as important.

At the other end of the line was Mark Letendre, the team trainer, who told Baker that third baseman Matt Williams would be out at least six weeks because of a broken bone in his right foot.

Williams, who began the day leading the National League in batting, home runs and runs batted in, will undergo surgery today after fouling a ball off his foot in the sixth inning.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Baker said. “It’s a tough blow, but we just have to regroup and keep going.”

Trevor Wilson gave up one run in seven innings and drove in a run with a single for the Giants, who have won five of six games. Rod Beck, the fourth San Francisco pitcher, got four outs for his eighth save.

Royce Clayton broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly, and Steve Scarsone--who has been playing first base in place of .098-hitting J.R. Phillips, but will probably replace Williams at third--followed with a run-scoring single.

The Phillies have lost two in a row for the first time this season.

Williams, batting .381 with 13 homers and 35 RBIs, was batting with Barry Bonds on first base in the sixth inning. Williams fouled the ball off his foot, stayed at the plate and singled two pitches later. He hobbled into second base when Mark Carreon reached on an infield error, then signaled the dugout and limped off the field.

“He just said he had a funny sound in his foot with every step,” Baker said.

It wasn’t so funny for the Giants.

“Matty was the mainstay in our offense,” said Giant right fielder Glenallen Hill. “Our team is not a one-man team, but he was a stronghold. We’ll just have to rally behind him and pick him up.”

Colorado 7, Pittsburgh 6--Larry Walker hit solo homers in consecutive at-bats, his 10th and 11th of the season for the Rockies, who won in Denver.

Walker, whose 0-for-24 slump ended earlier this week, is six for 11 with five RBIs in his last three games.

Florida 5, Chicago 4--Alex Arias’ two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning scored Jesus Tavarez from second base, capping a five-run comeback by the Marlins, who won at Miami.

Randy Veres (2-1) pitched two scoreless innings and got the victory for Florida, which was helped in its comeback by a bizarre ground-rule double by Terry Pendleton, whose deep shot was caught in a soda cup by 14-year-old Jamar Crump, who was leaning over the right-field wall.

Cincinnati 8, St. Louis 4--Reggie Sanders drove in four runs with a homer and a sacrifice fly, stretching his hitting streak to 11 games and leading the Reds to a victory at home.

It was the Cardinals’ eighth loss in 12 games. Cincinnati has won 10 of 12.

Houston 2, Atlanta 1--Jeff Bagwell hit a solo home run and scored the winning run after singling in the 10th inning at Atlanta, as the Astros won their third in a row.

It was the fourth consecutive loss for Atlanta, which was held to four hits by Darryl Kile, Todd Jones (3-0) and John Hudek.