Better Than Ever: Nomo One-Hits S.F.

National League

Hideo Nomo pitched the best game of his major-league career Saturday night, throwing a one-hitter to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 3-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Nomo (9-2), who allowed only an infield single by Royce Clayton with two outs in the seventh, walked three and struck out 11. The rookie struck out four straight batters in the sixth and seventh innings.

Pirates 3, Astros 2

Pittsburgh

Darryl Kile became the first 12-game loser in the N.L. as Pittsburgh beat Houston. The Pirates won for just the third time in 16 games.

Marlins 3, Mets 2

New York

Jeff Conine’s three-run homer in the eighth inning broke a tie as Florida extended its team record winning streak to eight.

Rockies 7, Padres 3

Denver

Dante Bichette hit his 26th home run, tying teammate Larry Walker for the N.L. lead, and Armando Reynoso pitched 7-1/3 strong innings as Colorado beat San Diego.

Braves 9, Expos 6

Montreal

Mark Lemke and Javier Lopez each drove in three runs and Tom Glavine struck out a season-high nine as Atlanta won its fourth straight.

Cubs 1, Cardinals 0

St. Louis

Scott Servais homered in the eighth inning to break a scoreless tie and Jim Bullinger pitched seven shutout innings as Chicago beat St. Louis.

Phils vs. Reds, ppd.

Cincinnati

Steady rain forced postponement of the Philadelphia-Cincinnati game which will be played today as part of a doubleheader.

Arizona sites

The Arizona Diamondbacks’ first farm affiliation will be in their own back yard - the Arizona League.

The league’s six teams are made up of rookies from major league teams. League president Bob Richmond said the Diamondbacks will get formal notification of affiliation approval later this month.

Meanwhile, The Arizona Republic said the Phoenix-based expansion team, which has yet to be placed in the N.L. or A.L., is on the verge of deciding on the other farm team that would begin play in 1996, two years before the parent club.

The two finalists, the newspaper said, are Lethbridge, Alberta, and Ogden, Utah, both of the Pioneer League.

Ogden’s Raptors, which have no major league affiliation, reportedly have arranged two-thirds of the financing for construction of a 5,000-seat state-of-the-art ballpark.

Lethbridge plays in a 2,750-seat stadium said to be one of the three best in the eight-team league.

The Diamondbacks also have considered the Butte Copper Kings of the Pioneer League. However, Butte lacks a major airport and the collegiate ballpark the team uses doesn’t meet major league requirements.

Clearing the bases

New York placed right-hander Pete Harnisch on the disabled list with a torn muscle in his throwing shoulder. The move was made retroactive to Aug. 2… . The Padres were without Tony Gwynn, the N.L.’s top hitter, for the second straight game. He has a bruised big toe on his right foot… . The Rockies climbed to 11 games above .500 (52-41) for only the second time in their history.

… Atlanta’s Fred McGriff is in a 9-for-54 slump.

Andy Benes asked Gwynn, his former teammate, to sign a bat for him to keep at home before shuffling off to Seattle. Meanwhile, as reported in the Dallas Morning News, Gwynn had this to say about Benes’ departure - “The numbers don’t lie. He was 4-7. If he was 7-4, he probably wouldn’t have got traded.”