Reynolds Flirts With No-Hitter, Gets Shutout

Shane Reynolds was thinking no-hitter Tuesday night. His neighbor had other ideas.

Reynolds, who makes his home not far from Arizona left fielder Luis Gonzalez’s off-season house in Sugar Land, Texas, held Arizona hitless for 6 2/3 innings before the Gonzalez singled.

He may have lost the no-hitter but Reynolds still pitched eight scoreless innings as the Astros won, 11-0, at Houston.

“We may be neighbors, but that doesn’t mean I want him no-hitting us,” said Gonzalez, who extended his hitting streak to 13 games. “I came up with him. He works hard and he dedicates himself. I was just trying to bear down and get deeper into the count.”

Reynolds (4-1) gave up five hits and struck out five. Brian Williams worked the ninth.

“[A no-hitter] crossed my mind, I was thinking to throw one would be nice,” Reynolds said. “I tried to nitpick with Gonzo when I went 2-0 on him and he hit it to right. He’s been hot, but I didn’t want to walk him.”

Craig Biggio homered, doubled and drove in three runs. His two-run double highlighted a six-run fourth against Armando Reynoso (1-1).

Reynolds squeezed home a run in the big inning. He also hit a two-run double in the seventh.

“He had a good slider, a good splitter, it’s nothing he hasn’t done over the course of the years,” Arizona Manager Buck Showalter said.

Gonzalez’s hit came after Matt Williams had smashed a line drive right at Reynolds, who put up his glove “in self-defense” and snared the ball for the second out of the seventh.

St. Louis 7, Colorado 5--Ray Lankford, making his first start since off-season knee surgery, hit a home run and the Cardinals defeated the Rockies at St. Louis.

Lankford, who had batted only twice this season, hit a solo homer in the second inning for a 5-0 lead.

St. Louis combined four hits and three walks for four runs in the first inning against John Thomson (0-2).

Darren Oliver (2-1) gave up four runs and eight hits in eight-plus innings. The Cardinals backed him with four double plays.

San Francisco 3, Montreal 2--Stan Javier scored on Ugueth Urbina’s wild pitch in the 10th inning as the Giants defeated the Expos at Montreal before 5,202, the smallest crowd of the season at Olympic Stadium.

Javier led off the ninth with a single off reliever Steve Kline (0-1). Urbina relieved and got Ellis Burks to hit a routine grounder to Expos shortstop Orlando Cabrera, but the ball went through Cabrera’s legs for Montreal’s league-leading 27th error and Javier advanced to third. Javier then scored on Urbina’s wild pitch.

San Francisco reliever John Johnstone (3-0) struck out the side in the ninth for the win, and Robb Nen pitched a perfect 10th for his seventh save.

San Diego 6, New York 2--Greg Myers entered the game after catcher Jim Leyritz was hurt and hit a tie-breaking, two-run double that led the Padres over the Mets at New York, sending the Mets to their first three-game losing streak of the season.

Andy Ashby (4-1) won his fourth consecutive start since losing the season opener, defeating the Mets for only the fifth time in 11 career decisions. He allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, and Donne Wall and Brian Boehringer finished with hitless relief.

Leyritz was hurt in the second inning when a pitch out of the strike zone went off his left hand with Masato Yoshii at the plate. The Padres said he had a bone bruise on his left thumb and would undergo additional evaluation.

Pittsburgh 5, Atlanta 3--Jason Schmidt pitched seven solid innings and defeated his former team when the Pirates scored three runs in the eighth, rallying for a victory at Atlanta.

Schmidt (3-1), who was 1-3 with a 6.30 earned-run average against the Braves since they traded him to Pittsburgh three years ago, gave up six hits and three runs.

Kevin Young and Jason Kendall hit consecutive run-scoring singles in the eighth off Rudy Seanez to put the Pirates ahead for good.

Florida 8, Chicago 0--Cliff Floyd, making his 1999 debut, and ace Alex Fernandez came off the disabled list to spark the Marlins to a victory at Miami.

Fernandez pitched four scoreless innings in his first start since April 11. The Marlins limited the right-hander to 69 pitches, and he appeared angry about being removed one inning short of the five innings needed to qualify for the victory.

Floyd, returning from a spring-training knee injury, singled in his first at-bat and scored on Kevin Orie’s double, then singled in the sixth before departing for a pinch runner.