Rookie Wilson Finally Wins For New York

It took four tries for Paul Wilson to finally get his first major league victory.

Wilson shut down Cincinnati on three hits in eight innings Monday night, leading the Mets to a 5-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at New York.

“What I was doing was rushing myself and trying to make each pitch a perfect one,� Wilson said. “Tonight all I was trying to do was get the first strike with my fastball and then go to the curve and the slider. But my primary pitch was a fastball.�

Wilson struck out five and walked two. Doug Henry pitched a two-hit ninth for his second save.

“He threw much, much better than he did against us the first time,� Cincinnati Manager Ray Knight said. “He had a lot better command than he had in our game over there. It was like two totally different pitchers.

“He spotted his fastball well, located well on his curveball. There’s been so much hype about him being one of the best young pitchers to come along this year, I was surprised he didn’t throw well the first time against us.�

Jose Vizcaino hit a two-run homer and Lance Johnson had three singles for the Mets.

Colorado 4, Chicago 2--Marvin Freeman gave up four hits over seven innings, one of them Ryne Sandberg’s 250th career homer, and the Rockies used a four-run fifth to beat the Cubs at Chicago.

“It’s good motivation to have a lot of people rooting for you. You go on enemy grounds but you’re still at home,� said Freeman, a Chicago native who walked one and struck out four in raising his career record against the Cubs to 5-1. “My mother and father were in the stands and I know they were telling everybody around them that their son was out there. I didn’t want them to be embarrassed to be here for me so I was trying to be the best I could.�

Curtis Leskanic pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save.

Sandberg hit his fifth homer of the season in the first, becoming the 10th major league player with 250 homers and 250 steals. He doubled and scored on Sammy Sosa’s sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead in the fourth off Freeman.

Jaime Navarro, the Cubs’ ace last season, couldn’t hold the lead and failed for the fifth time to get his first victory.

Montreal 8, St. Louis 0--Rheal Cormier pitched a three-hitter and Henry Rodriguez, starting in left field in place of injured Moises Alou, homered twice and drove in five runs at Montreal, as the Expos won their fourth consecutive game.

“It feels good,� said Cormier, traded by St. Louis before the 1995 season. “It’s always tough when you have to pitch against the team you played for.�

Cormier, who gave up 10 runs in 13 innings in his previous three starts, retired the first 12 men he faced and gave up only singles to John Mabry, Gary Gaetti and Royce Clayton.

Pittsburgh 9, Philadelphia 3--Jacob Brumfield hit a two-run home run and drove in a career-high four runs as the Pirates stopped a three-game losing streak at Philadelphia.

“Jacob Brumfield was the catalyst tonight, he had a great night,� Pittsburgh Manager Jim Leyland said. “He really got us going with his home run and the other big hit.�

Danny Darwin gave up three runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings. He also had a two-run double and a single, his first hits since Aug. 16, 1990.

“Darwin pitched good,� Leyland said. “He held a good-hitting ballclub in check. It’s nice to get some innings out of our starter.�

Pittsburgh had 16 hits, including three each by Charlie Hayes, Jeff King and Brumfield. Jon Lieber, Dan Plesac and Doug Miceli followed Darwin, combining on a six-hitter.

San Diego 5, Florida 3--Andy Ashby pitched a seven-hitter and drove in the tiebreaking run with a sacrifice fly at Miami, snapping the Marlins’ four-game winning streak.

Third baseman Ken Caminiti helped Ashby in the sixth inning when he made a diving backhanded stop of Greg Colbrunn’s hard grounder, rolled over and--while sitting on the foul line behind third--managed a perfect throw across his body for the out.

Scott Livingstone had a solo homer and a run-scoring single for San Diego. Gary Sheffield hit his ninth homer, tying him with Klesko for the league lead.

Houston 11, San Francisco 8--Rick Wilkins homered, doubled and singled twice, driving in two runs and scoring three, as the Astros took advantage of five Giant errors at San Francisco.

Orlando Miller added two doubles and two runs batted in for the Astros, who have won five of six. Derrick May and Brian Hunter also had two hits each for Houston, which had 15 hits, reaching double figures for the ninth time in 11 games.

Shawon Dunston made four errors on ground balls at shortstop for San Francisco and first baseman Mark Carreon had a throwing error, giving the Giants 16 errors in eight games.