NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Rockies Finally Get a Shutout

Brian Rekar and Steve Reed combined for Colorado’s first nine-inning shutout in more than a year and Ellis Burks picked up a slumping offense with a three-run home run Wednesday as the Rockies defeated the Pirates, 6-0, at Pittsburgh.

Rekar (4-2) pitched eight innings before Reed finished up the combined seven-hitter with a hitless ninth. The Rockies, last in the league in pitching, were the only team in the majors without a shutout. They hadn’t had a nine-inning shutout since David Nied’s 8-0 victory over Houston on June 24, 1994.

Colorado Manager Don Baylor reshuffled his batting order after the Rockies were nearly no-hit on Tuesday night, and the moves paid off with the Rockies’ first three homers of the three-game series.

“Yeah, we got some home runs, but we got a great pitching performance too,” shortstop Walt Weiss said. “That’s really the key for us. If our starters can get into the seventh inning, that’s a big plus.”

Houston 2, Atlanta 0--Shane Reynolds gave up six hits over eight innings at Atlanta, as the Astros won their second consecutive game after losing a team-record 11 in a row.

Reynolds (9-9) struck out five and walked two. Jeff Tabaka and Todd Jones worked the ninth with Jones getting the last out for his 13th save. The Braves were shut out for the third time this season.

The Astros did all their scoring in the third off John Smoltz (10-6) on a run-scoring double by Brian Hunter and a sacrifice fly by John Cangelosi. Smoltz, who had not lost since July 12, gave up six hits, walked four and struck out eight in seven innings.

St. Louis 4, Cincinnati 3--David Bell hit his first major league homer in his hometown of Cincinnati, to give the Cardinals the victory.

Bell, whose father Buddy and grandfather Gus played for the Reds, homered off Mark Portugal (8-9) in the sixth inning to end Cincinnati’s five-game winning streak.

“It was something that we’ve talked about a lot,” Bell said. “It’s not like a pressure-type deal. It was actually something that I wanted to do just to make them proud.”

Mike Morgan (6-7) gave up three runs on eight hits over five innings. Tom Henke pitched the ninth for his 29th save in 30 chances.

Florida 4, Chicago 1--John Burkett took a shutout into the ninth inning and finished with a five-hitter to lead the Marlins at Miami.

Burkett (12-11) walked three and stuck out five as he set a record for victories for the three-year-old franchise. Greg Colbrunn drove in three runs for the Marlins, including his 20th homer of the season.

Sammy Sosa homered with one out in the ninth, his 30th of the season and 10th in 13 games, to break up the shutout. Frank Castillo (8-8) took the loss for the Cubs, who ended the Marlins’ 14-game home winning streak Tuesday night. He gave up seven hits and four runs in seven innings.

San Francisco 4, Philadelphia 1--William VanLandingham remained unbeaten in his career at Candlestick Park and Robby Thompson homered to lead the Giants.

The Phillies have lost five in a row at Candlestick this season and are 0-9 there since April 21, 1994. VanLandingham (5-3) improved to 9-0 in 16 starts in San Francisco. He gave up five hits and struck out eight in 8 1/3 innings.

Rod Beck earned his 26th save.

San Diego 3, Montreal 2--Archi Cianfrocco was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Padres the victory at San Diego.

Greg Harris (1-2), the fourth Montreal pitcher, had given up one-out singles to Steve Finley, Tony Gwynn and Ken Caminiti to load the bases. Harris then hit Cianfrocco to force in the winning run.