Dodgers, Rockies Both Tumble
National League
Melvin Nieves homered, doubled and singled Thursday night to lead the visiting San Diego Padres to a 5-1 victory over Los Angeles and keep the Dodgers from gaining ground on N.L. West leader Colorado.
Andy Ashby (11-10) held Los Angeles to one unearned run and nine hits in 8-2/3 innings before Trevor Hoffman nailed down the final out for his 27th save.
Giants 5, Rockies 3
San Francisco
Barry Bonds and Glenallen Hill hit two-run homers as San Francisco defeated the Rockies to slow Colorado’s push toward a playoff spot.
Sergio Valdez (4-4) allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings, and Rod Beck pitched the ninth for his 31st save. Beck has been successful in his last nine save situations.
Pirates 4, Cubs 3
Chicago
Chicago’s wild-card hopes dimmed almost to zero when lowly Pittsburgh capitalized on three unearned runs to beat the Cubs.
Two throwing errors by shortstop Shawon Dunston contributed to one unearned run in the third and two more in the sixth.
Philadelphia 3, Florida 1
Philadelphia
Michael Mimbs, winning as a starter for the first time in two months, allowed one run in 7 innings as Philadelphia beat Florida.
Mimbs (9-6), relegated to the bullpen at the end of July, allowed four hits, struck out six and walked three.
Braves 3, Mets 0
Atlanta
Greg Maddux became the major league’s first 18-game winner, allowing five hits in eight innings as Atlanta beat New York.
Maddux (18-2) struck out nine and walked none before Mark Wohlers finished with a perfect ninth for his 25th save. Maddux lowered his ERA to 1.68.
Marino joins bid for Pirates
Kevin McClatchy, faced with a deadline of today in raising the money to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates, has lined up five investors and is continuing to talk with several more.
McClatchy’s backers include Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, who earlier was involved in another prospective Pirates ownership group, and Chip Ganassi, who owns an Indy-car team with former San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana.
Clearing the bases
Atlanta’s Greg Maddux is attempting to become the first pitcher since Walter Johnson in 1918-19 to have an ERA of less than 1.80 in two consecutive seasons… . Colorado’s John Vander Wal set a major league record with his 26th pinch hit of the season, a seventhinning home run that broke the mark set by Montreal’s Jose Morales in 1976… . Deion Sanders was serenaded with boos and catcalls when he returned to the Bay Area for the first time since abandoning the city’s football team and indicating he may want to leave its baseball team as well.