Gardner Settles For 2-Hit Shutout

Mark Gardner held visiting Montreal hitless until the seventh inning and finished with a two-hitter, pitching the San Francisco Giants past the Expos 4-0 Friday night.

Gardner (12-5) struck out seven, including the side in the ninth inning, and walked one.

Gardner lost his no-hit bid with one out in the seventh when rookie Vladimir Guerrero doubled off the left-field wall, just over the glove of a leaping Barry Bonds.

In 1991 with Montreal, Gardner held Los Angeles hitless for nine innings. He gave up two hits in the 10th, however, and lost 1-0.

Cardinals 6, Phillies 1 St. Louis

Mark McGwire hit a 441-foot home run in his first home game for St. Louis to help stop the Cards’ losing streak at five.

McGwire had a pair of singles in 26 at-bats before a solo shot in the third inning. He had gone 71 at-bats since hitting a pair on July 16.

Cubs 3, Padres 1 Chicago

Kevin Orie singled in the winning run in the eighth inning for short-handed Chicago.

The Cubs were playing with 22 players after a trade with the Mets and another roster move.

Mets 6, Astros 1 New York

Brian McRae made an impressive Mets debut, getting three hits and scoring twice.

He was booed by the New York fans when he was picked off after drawing a walk in the first, but redeemed himself with a triple and two singles.

Marlins 6, Braves 4 Atlanta

Charles Johnson hit a two-run homer and drove in another run with a bases-loaded walk.

In the opener of a four-game series between the N.L.’s top two teams, the Marlins defeated Atlanta for the seventh time in nine meetings this season.

Dodgers 10, Reds 5 Cincinnati

Wayne Kirby, Eric Karros and Todd Zeile had RBI doubles in a six-run fourth inning for Los Angeles.

Every starter except Mike Piazza had at least one hit as the Dodgers rolled up 15, six of them for extra bases.

Rockies 5, Pirates 3 Denver

Eric Young doubled twice and singled, driving in two runs for Colorado.

Colorado’s Larry Walker went 2 for 4 and raised his average to .387.

Pittsburgh has won seven of nine meetings in the series this season.

Clearing the bases

The Padres’ Rickey Henderson moved past Lou Gehrig into sixth place for most runs scored with 1,889. Ty Cobb leads with 2,245, and Stan Musial is fifth with 1,949.