Dodgers Gain A Tie For First
National League
Chan Ho Park allowed three hits over eight innings and Raul Mondesi sparked Los Angeles with his power and speed Thursday night as the visiting Dodgers pulled into a first-place tie in the N.L. West with their sixth straight victory, a 4-1 triumph over the Chicago Cubs.
The Dodgers improved to a season-best 10 games over .500. Park (10-5) won his fifth consecutive start, retiring 19 straight batters before Sammy Sosa walked to lead off the ninth. Todd Worrell gave up one hit and got three outs for his 27th save.
Mondesi homered in the sixth to close out the scoring. He also drove in a run with a first-inning grounder and scored in the fourth after singling and going from first to third on a groundout.
Marlins 1, Braves 0 Miami
Tony Saunders pitched seven shutout innings and Darren Daulton drove in the only run with a fourth-inning single to help Florida shut out Atlanta.
Saunders, a rookie left-hander, improved to 3-3. He’s 3-0 against Atlanta with an ERA of 1.35.
The Marlins closed to within 6-1/2 games of the Braves in the N.L. East. The teams play three more times this weekend in a series billed as the biggest in the Marlins’ five-year history.
Expos 9, Padres 2 Montreal
Rondell White drove in four runs, hitting one of three Montreal home runs, as the Expos beat San Diego.
White’s 17th home run of the season gave Montreal a 1-0 lead in the first off Sterling Hitchcock (7-6) and his three-run double in the second made it 6-0.
Pirates 4, Rockies 1 Pittsburgh
Kevin Young greeted reliever Curtis Leskanic with a tie-breaking three-run homer in a four-run eighth inning that rallied Pittsburgh past Colorado.
Phillies 2, Cardinals 1 (10) Philadelphia
Midre Cummings’ bases-loaded single with two outs in the 10th scored Gregg Jefferies with the winning run as Philadelphia defeated St. Louis.
Lasorda woos Murdoch group
Tommy Lasorda is lobbying former junk bond financier Michael Milken for a bigger role with the Los Angeles Dodgers - most likely as general manager - if the team is sold, some baseball owners and executives who asked not to be identified told Bloomberg News.
Lasorda, who will be inducted Sunday into the Hall of Fame, became a Dodgers vice president with little say in baseball decisions last July after owner Peter O’Malley asked him to resign as manager in part because of heart problems.
Milken, the former investment banker who spent two years in prison and paid almost a billion in fines for securities law violations, is an avid baseball fan and an adviser to Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp.’s Fox Sports is trying to buy the Dodgers. Lasorda is a close friend of Milken.
Clearing the bases
Kevin Young of the Pirates is batting .442 (23 for 53) in his last 14 games. … San Diego’s Tony Gwynn tied Lou Gehrig for 44th place on the all-time hit list with 2,721… . Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg didn’t start for a sixth consecutive game because of a strained right groin muscle.