Giants’ Royce Rolls In Eighth Inning

National League

The St. Louis Cardinals scored runs fast and gave them away even faster.

The Cardinals allowed seven unearned runs, with first baseman Todd Zeile making three of their four errors, in a 10-7 loss Saturday to the host San Francisco Giants.

Royce Clayton broke out of a 1-for-16 slump with a three-run double in the eighth to break a 7-7 tie that the Cardinals had created by scoring four runs in the top of the inning.

Phillies 10, Mets 8

Philadelphia

Kevin Stocker drove in a career high four runs and Mickey Morandini hit a three-run homer as Philadelphia held off New York. The Phillies won for the 13th time in 16 games.

Reds 10, Rockies 9

Cincinnati

Cincinnati’s Ron Gant drove in five runs, including a game-winning single with two outs in the 10th inning.

Astros 2, Expos 1

Houston

Pinch-hitter Dave Magadan drew a bases-loaded walk from Montreal reliever Jeff Shaw with one out in the 10th inning, giving Houston the win.

Braves 8, Marlins 7

Atlanta

Rookie Chipper Jones hit a one-out homer in the ninth inning giving Atlanta Braves an 8-7 victory over the Florida Marlins.

Jones’ sixth homer of the year landed about 20 rows back in the lower deck in right field.

Padres 9, Pirates 6

San Diego

Bip Roberts hit a grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to rally San Diego. The Padres scored five runs in the ninth. , Cubs 7, Dodgers 1

Los Angeles

Mark Grace homered and drove in three runs as Jim Bullinger and Chicago sent Los Angeles to its fifth straight loss.

Cox’s concoctions

Atlanta manager Bobby Cox is considering moving John Smoltz to the bullpen and giving him the closer’s job, but says - for now, anyway - he’ll stick with a closer-by-committee.

“We can always piece it together,” Cox said. “There’s nothing wrong with all of them having a piece of it. Let’s see what those guys can do. I think they’ll be fine.”

The Butler said it

Brett Butler is one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball. But, like so many players, he apparently needs a crash course in reality and fan relations. Butler didn’t do himself or baseball any good when he popped off to the New York Post about this year’s schedule, which only gives the Mets 10 days off. “I don’t know why we had to play 144 games,” groaned Butler. “It doesn’t make sense cramming all of those extra games in. It hurts the play.”

Clearing the bases

A couple of Chicago baseball names are being bandied about for the Tampa Bay job. The St. Petersburg Times listed Cubs scouting director Al Goldis and White Sox director of baseball operations Dan Evans as 10-1 shots to get the job. …

Those Tomahawk-chopping fans have faded away into the Georgia sunset. The Braves averaged 46,164 fans in their first nine home games last year. This year, they’re averaging 32,141 - and that’s tickets sold. The actual choppers in the house have been less than half that number. … The Dodgers are pretty good at this cultural sensitivity stuff. They served sushi in the media dining room before Hideo Nomo’s Los Angeles debut… . Phillies pitcher David West, who missed his last start because of discomfort in his left shoulder, was examined by team physician Dr. Phillip Marone. In the next couple of days he’ll start pitching on the side from the mound… . Colorado is 1-12 at Riverfront Stadium.