Neagle’s Dream Season Gets Even Better

For Denny Neagle, it has been a season pitchers dream about.

He pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings to become the National League’s first 16-game winner as the Braves beat the Cardinals, 3-0, at Atlanta on Thursday.

Neagle (16-2) ran his scoreless inning streak to a career-high 23 2/3 innings in sending the Cardinals to their fifth consecutive loss and ninth in 10 games. St. Louis completed its 11-game road trip at 2-9 and didn’t hit a home run the entire trip.

Neagle, a left-hander, walked one, hit a batter and struck out seven in defeating the Cardinals for the third time this season. Mark Wohlers pitched the ninth for his 27th save.

The two-game sweep of the Cardinals increased Atlanta’s NL East lead over Florida to 5 1/2 games. The two teams meet in a four-game series starting tonight in Atlanta.

Philadelphia 6, Houston 5--Rex Hudler, one of the most emotional players in baseball, was in tears after getting the game-winning hit a few hours after coming off the disabled list.

“I’m just so excited to be back and playing, I couldn’t be happier,” said Hudler, who hit a two-run homer in the seventh and singled in Ricky Otero with the winning run in the 11th inning to give the Phillies a victory in Philadelphia.

Hudler, who had been on the disabled list since June 12 after knee surgery, played in Scranton-Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday night as he completed his rehabilitation assignment. He immediately drove to Philadelphia after hearing he was going to be activated.

“It’s been a real tough year for me, so it’s great to come back and contribute. This is really an emotional roller coaster for me. I play with emotion and with my heart and I just want to be healthy the rest of the way and help my team anyway that I can.”

The NL Central-leading Astros lost their season-high fourth consecutive game. The Phillies, with the worst record in the majors at 38-74, have won eight of 10.

Hudler’s two-run homer made it 4-4 in the seventh, and the Phillies scored in the eighth on Kevin Stocker’s single. The Astros tied it, 5-5, in the ninth on pinch-hitter Bill Spiers’ single off Phillie closer Ricky Bottalico.

New York 12, Colorado 4--A rib injury that sidelined Carlos Baerga for nearly a week might make him give up switch-hitting. The problem did nothing, though, to disrupt his left-handed stroke.

Baerga, starting for the first time in eight games, had four hits and drove in four runs, leading the Mets to victory in New York

“I’m convinced that if I swing right-handed again I’m going to get hurt,” Baerga said. “I didn’t feel any pain batting left-handed.”

Baerga, who had been sidelined for six games with a strained left rib cage before pinch-hitting Wednesday night, was four for four with a homer and double.

Chicago 6, San Francisco 3--Rookie Jeremi Gonzalez outpitched Wilson Alvarez and the Cubs beat the Giants at Chicago to stop the Giants’ four-game winning streak.

Gonzalez (8-5) defeated Alvarez (1-1) in a matchup of pitchers from Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Sammy Sosa hit his 24th home run and Brian McRae had three hits, including a homer, for Chicago. The Cubs won for only the third time in 14 games.

Gonzalez held the Giants to four hits in 6 2-3 innings. He left in the seventh when San Francisco closed to 3-2, and ended his three-game losing streak.

Pittsburgh 5, Florida 1--Esteban Loaiza, who didn’t retire a batter as a starter the night before, and Marc Wilkins each pitched three shutout relief innings following starter Francisco Cordova’s ejection as the Pirates won at Pittsburgh

“It was the first time I’ve ever had to bring a starter back the next day,” Pirates manager Gene Lamont said. “But then I’ve never had a starter last only 29 pitches.”

Loaiza said pitching on consecutive days was commonplace when he was in the Mexican League.

“If Ricardo [Rincon] and Francisco and I were still down there, they’d probably have us pitching 500 innings,” he said.

The Pirates ended the Marlins’ winning streak at four games.

Cordova and Gene Lamont were thrown out by umpire Jerry Layne in the second inning after Moises Alou was hit in the back with a pitch. Darren Daulton had just put Florida up 1-0 with his 12th homer.

Alou and Cordova began walking toward each other, but no punches were thrownBut as Cordova walked back to the mound, Layne signaled his ejection, bringing Lamont out.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Carlos Baerga

Team: New York

Performance: 4 for 4, double, homer, 3 runs, 4 RBIs

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Mike Piazza

Team: Dodgers

Performance: 4 for 5, homer, 3 runs, 3 RBIs

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Brian McRae

Team: Chicago

Performance: 3 for 4, homer, 2 runs

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Rex Hudler

Team: Philadelphia

Performance: 2 for 5, homer, game-winning RBI

Team’s Result: Win

PITCHING

Player: Denny Neagle

Team: Atlanta

Performance: 7 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 7 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Brett Tomko

Team: Cincinnati

Performance: 7 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 5 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win