Rapid City Journal from Rapid City, South Dakota • 40

Rapid City Journal E4 Sports Wednesday, April 30, 1997 5 So fifTif nn iJ (V' rv.J -ty a By The Associated Press HOUSTON Donne Wall, who hardly impressed anyone in his first major league start of the season, pitched well enough to win in the Astros' 3-1 victory over Colorado on Tuesday. "He's not going to win any Cy Young Awards or be anybody's No. 1 starter," Houston manager Larry Dierker said. "But he doesn't make a lot of mistakes, and if you play good defense behind him, he'll give you seven innings and give you a chance to win." Wall, called up from Triple-A New Orleans last week, combined with Russ Springer, Tom Martin and John Hudek to limit the Rockies to seven hits, one more than their season-low. Sean Berry and Jeff Bagwell homered for the Astros, who ended a three-game losing streak.

"Donne is a good pitcher," Berry said. "He doesn't overpower anybody, and if he gets the ball up he gets hurt, but he's got good control and 4 -L--. tf-- y. t. iiiii ini njittiifiHti'iiiiiiiniiiiii ii iTMfcm Montreal Expos runner Darrin Fletcher, right, is tagged first inning.

Fletcher tried to score on a hit by the out by Chicago Cubs catcher Scott Servais during the Expos' Rondell White. Mariners keep Torre from win and scored when Vinny Castilla bounced into a double play. The Astros tied it in the third as Craig Biggio walked, took second on Young's error and scored on Bagwell's single. Phillies 8, Pirates 2 PHILADELPHIA Mike Lieberthal hit a three-run homer and Calvin Maduro pitched seven effective innings as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-2. Lieberthal's homer capped a four-run fifth inning that put the Phillies ahead 5-1.

Dodgers 6, Braves 2 ATLANTA Greg Gagne homered and singled twice as the Los Angeles Dodgers slowed down the Atlanta Braves with a 6-2 victory. Atlanta, which set an NL record for April victories on Monday by winning its 18th game, had a chance to establish a major league mark for wins in the first month of the season. The Braves will have one more opportunity to beat the mark set four times by AL teams, most recently Oakland in 1989, when they play at Cincinnati tonight. They still have the best record in the majors at 18-6. Cubs 14, Expos 8 CHICAGO Rookie Brooks Kieschnick, devastated when he was cut in March, drove in six runs with two homers and a single as the Chicago Cubs survived five Montreal homers to defeat the Expos 14-8.

Shawon Dunston added three hits and two RBIs to help Chicago rally from a 5-0 deficit. In winning four of their last five games, the Cubs have scored 37 runs compared to 53 in their first 19 games. Mets 3, Reds 1 CINCINNATI Mark Clark pitched seven shutout innings and John Olerud hit a pair of RBI singles the New York Mets beat the slumping Cincinnati Reds 3-1 for their first three-game winning streak the season. Clark (3-1) won his third consecutive start by scattering seven hits and three walks while striking out three. Marlins 2, Padres 1 MIAMI Bobby Bonilla hit a two-out, two-run triple in the eighth inning to give the Florida Marlins a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres, who lost their seventh consecutive game.

The Marlins, who had just three hits, swept a five-game homes and. They begin a five-game road trip today at St. Louis. Cardinals 9, Giants 7 ST. LOUIS Ron Gant hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning off Giants closer Rod Beck and the St.

Louis Cardinals overcame a six-run deficit to beat San Francisco 9-7. Beck (0-1) had been U-for-11 on save chances and was trying to match Lee Smith's major league record for saves in April. But Dmitri Young led off the ninth with an infield hit and Delino DeShields singled him to ft? 4 White Sox 2, Rangers 1 CHICAGO Albert Belle's sacrifice fly with one out in the ninth inning lifted the Chicago White Sox to a 2-1 victory over the Texas Rangers. Ray Durham singled with one out in the ninth off Andy Patterson (2-2), and Frank Thomas followed with a single, sending Durham to third. Royals 6, Blue Jays 5 KANSAS CITY, Mo.

Chili Davis hit his 300th career home run leading off the bottom of the 10th inning, giving the Kansas City Royals a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Davis connected on a 3-2 pitch from Paul Quantrill (3-2) for his second homer of the season. Quantrill got two outs in the ninth. Brewers 2, Tigers 1 DETROIT Jeff Cirillo hit a tie-breaking RBI single and Milwaukee's bullpen converted its first save opportunity in more than two weeks as the Brewers edged the Detroit Tigers 2-1. tiiif I ISyr-W livt in wtit mi nPir-i The win was the fourth straight after six straight losses for the Brewers, who continue to lead the AL Central.

Angels 5, Red Sox 4 BOSTON Garrett Anderson singled home the go-ahead run in the ninth inning as the Anaheim Angels blew, three leads before beating the Boston Red Sox 5-4. Anderson's hit off Butch Henry (1-1) drove in Jim Leyritz, who had doubled with two outs. Tim Salmon, who was intentionally walked, was tagged out between third and home. Indians 10, Athletics 4 CLEVELAND Matt Williams' three-run homer, his seventh of the year and sixth in four games, snapped a seventh-inning tie and led the Cleveland Indians to a 10-4 win over the Oakland Athletics. Williams, who hit three homers against Milwaukee Friday and two more Saturday, hit a line drive over the left-field fence off Ariel Prieto (2-1) to break a 4-4 tie.

Williams got a standing ovation and took a curtain call after his first home run at Jacobs Field. 4hik lif I Mecir gave up five runs, four hits and two walks in the eighth, while McCarthy (1-0) retired four consecutive batters to win his first major league decision. "You just have to forget about the bad day you had," McCarthy said. "If you're a big league pitcher, you don't carry that with you." The Yanks' Tino Martinez set a major league record with 33 RBIs in April, topping the 32 last year by San Francisco's Barry Bonds. "I didn't care if I got it or not," Martinez said.

"I wish we could have won the game. The record's not on my mind." Orioles 6, Twins 4 MINNEAPOLIS Brady Anderson's two-run triple keyed a four-run sixth inning that sent the Baltimore Orioles to a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins, who dropped their sixth straight game. Anderson went 2-for-5 with two runs scored, and Roberto Alomar had three hits for the Orioles. 1 X-aiaiT 3k4sfi SCMntfi xw Caff mm ft a fgrocfssro Montana Rockies RaH Tour Colorado Rookies Baseball Cheyenne Frontier Days Mississippi River Branson Smoky Mountains Las Vegas New England Fiiiiii 2 if r.s" 01 Yanks' Martinez sets all-time April mark with 33 RBIs. By The Associated Press NEW YORK Most of the time, Griffey, Buhner.

Rodriguez and Martinez do the thumping for the Seattle Mariners. Now, it's Russ Davis and Rich Am-aral who are coming through. Davis matched his career-high with four RBIs and Amaral broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-run single in Tuesday night's 7-5 victory over the New York Yankees, which prevented Joe Torre from getting his win as a manager. "It takes a lot of concentration to pitch against the bigger guys in our lineup," Mariners manager Lou Pin-iella said. New York led 2-0 on Bernie Williams' two-run homer in the fourth.

But Piniella Davis tied the game with an RBI single in the fifth off Ramiro Mendoza and a sacrifice fly in the seventh off Brian Boeh-ringer. After Amaral's two-run single off Jim Mecir (0-1) gave the Mariners a 4-2 lead in the eighth, Davis hit another two-run single, which proved important. "It's a great feeling," said Davis, who missed most of last season with a broken leg. "It's not more special because I did it here." In New York's 6-5 victory Monday, Seattle's Greg McCarthy allowed both his batters to reach and Mecir pitched 2Vi perfect innings. In a reversal.

Spearfisk Heritage Pkn 6425010 liJ wSL when he keeps the ball down, he's effec tive. He did a great job against one of the better offenses in baseball." Wall (1-0) was sailing along with a 2-1 lead in the seventh, when he had to leave the game because of groin tightness after allowing five hits and striking out four. John Hudek pitched the ninth for his fourth save in as many opportunities. "It was tight, so we didn't want to risk getting hurt worse," Wall said. "I know what I can do and I want to be a part of this team.

The guys really played great defense behind me and came up with the clutch hits. This was a team effort. Hopefully, there'll be more to come." Roger Bailey (3-1) went seven innings, gave up five hits, walked one and hit three batters to take his first loss of the year. "Their pitcher is similar to ours," Rockies manager Don Baylor said. "They're not overpowering, but they have good control with good breaking balls.

Their guy had our hitters out on their front foot a lot. "You have to give credit to him. He pitched a good game." "You've got to tip your hat to Donne," Bailey said. "He kept us off balance. He had a good slider and he did the job.

The times will be few and far between when you hold our offense down." The Rockies were hurt by an error by Eric Young on a potential double-play ball in the second that led to the Astros' first run. It was Young's third error in three days. "He's definitely thinking about his defense now," Baylor said. "There's no way he should have made those errors." "I'm making the hard plays and not the easy ones," Young said. "It's inexcusable, not acceptable." Andres Galarraga doubled to the left-field comer to lead off the second inning against Wall.

He went to third on Dante Bichette's single to right 'Black Jack' set to CLEVELAND (AP) Jack McDowell, demoted to the Cleveland bullpen after three bad starts, will return to the starting rotation Thursday following two scoreless appearances as a reliever. McDowell worked six strong innings in the first two regular-season relief appearances of his career after 254 consecutive starts. He pitched four innings for his first career relief victory against Boston, then got the Indians out of another jam Saturday against Milwaukee. "We felt enough was enough, let's get him back in the rotation where he belongs," Indians manager Mike Hargrove said before Tuesday's game against the Oakland A's. "We're not stupid.

Jack was a Cy Young winner as a starter, not as a bullpen guy." Gillette's Hew amm NL nnfis mm mm as of m. vtny MMimmm w-wv Mam worn m- r- aw start Thursday McDowell allowed 28 hits in 13 innings with a 12.51 ERA in three starts. Since coming off his first career stint on the disabled list last Aug. 9, McDowell had an ERA of more than 8.00 as a starter. UiiIfforiMS Ytvk.

muwTm "www waa P.O. Box 1108, Rapid City, SD 57709 605-342-4461 or 800-456-4461 Soccer Softball Baseball Rapid Haines Station 342-7814 Prists gM MT I I IM MT M.MM.Ia When They Run For The Roses At Churchill Downs You Can Go Along For The Ride. Performance is Priority" Dealership Saturday, May 3 is the 123rd running of the Kentucky Derby. And you can get in on all the action right here, as we simulcast this prestigious event live on our track -monitors. So come cheer the world's finest thoroughbreds.

And cash in on tho fun and pvritpmpnt nf tH "Greatest Two Mimics In Spons." DEADWOOD. SD 1 fSH lit Place your bet for ticl wr wk Ik only Off Track Bating the Kentucky Derby at the i A 1 'iff Paihr in desfaoodl vr-p i imp mi I -JL3.