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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nieves’ Shot Sends Mets Down Again

Associated Press

National League

Melvin Nieves has some advice for his teammates: Knock off the extra-inning stuff.

Nieves homered off Blas Minor with two outs in the 13th inning Monday as the San Diego Padres rallied to beat New York 3-2 in Shea Stadium, the Mets’ eighth loss in nine games.

“Let’s get some runs early,” Nieves said. “It’s a good sign that we win these late games, because it shows everyone is focused. However, we’re putting pressure on ourselves.”

San Diego was playing its third consecutive extrainning game. The Padres split a pair in Philadelphia.

It was the fifth home run of the season for Nieves and the fourth in 14 innings off Minor (1-1).

Willie Blair (1-0) gave up two hits in three innings for his first victory since Sept. 21, 1993, when he was with Colorado. He was pitching for the third consecutive day.

Cards 6, Rockies 5 (11)

St. Louis

Geronomo Pena came off the disabled list and singled home the winning run in the 11th inning, giving St. Louis the victory over Colorado.

Pena, who also had an RBI single and a sacrifice fly, was playing for the first time since breaking his left shinbone on May 3.

Braves 2, Cubs 1

Chicago

Tom Glavine pitched a five-hitter for his first complete game in more than a year, and Marquis Grissom homered as Atlanta beat Chicago for its 11th win in 14 games.

Glavine (4-1) outpitched Frank Castillo (3-2), bidding to win his fourth straight start. Castillo allowed eight hits in seven innings, including three to Grissom, who hit a solo homer in the seventh that gave the Braves a 2-0 lead.

Phillies 8, Dodgers 6

Philadelphia

Jim Eisenreich had three hits and three RBIs, and Tony Longmire had three hits and scored three runs as Philadelphia defeated Los Angeles.

Eisenreich homered, tripled and singled in support of Paul Quantrill (4-1), who allowed six runs and eight hits in 5 innings. He struck out two and walked two.

Giants 11, Expos 6

Montreal

San Francisco blew a five-run lead in the seventh, but scored six in the ninth, capped by a three-run homer by Barry Bonds, to defeat Montreal.

Trailing 6-5, the Giants scored the tying run against reliever Mel Rojas (1-1) on consecutive singles by Jeff Reed, Royce Clayton and pinch-hitter Mark Carreon.

Marlins 9, Astros 7

Miami

Chris Hammond hit the first grand slam by a pitcher in nearly nine years and Terry Pendleton went 5 for 5 to help Florida beat Houston.

Hammond’s grand slam was the first by a pitcher since Bob Forsch of St. Louis hit one against Pittsburgh’s Mike Bielecki on Aug. 10, 1986.

Clearing the bases

Florida left fielder Jeff Conine’s consecutive-game streak of 307, second only to Cal Ripken among active players, ended because of a strained left hamstring.