NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Cone Wins One-Hitter This Time

For the second time in a row, David Cone held the St. Louis Cardinals to one hit at New York on Friday night.

There was a major difference. Last Saturday, the hit was a two-run single by Ray Lankford in the fifth inning and it beat Cone, 2-1.

This time, Felix Jose spoiled Cone’s attempt to throw the Mets’ first no-hitter with a lead-off double in the eighth inning, but the Mets won, 1-0.

Mark Carreon lined a single off of third baseman Todd Zeile’s glove, scoring Kevin Elster from third in the sixth inning for an unearned run against rookie Rheal Cormier. With two out in the inning, Gold Glove shortstop Ozzie Smith fumbled Gregg Jefferies’ grounder, giving Carreon the opportunity to bat. It was only the eighth error of the season for Smith.

It was the 4,782nd game in Mets history and they have had 20 one-hitters, but never a no-hitter. The only other major league team never to have a no-hitter is the San Diego Padres, established seven years after the Mets.

It has been a rough year for Cone (13-13), although he is a cinch to have the most strikeouts in the league. He struck out 11 to give him 209 this season.

In his previous outing at St. Louis, Cone went seven innings, giving up the hit in the fifth.

“I’m going to get one someday,” Cone said of a no-hitter.

“It was only natural to think I was going to get it tonight. It’s tough when you get that deep into it.

“Sure, it was a letdown, but at least it was a clean hit. This is the third one-hitter I’ve been involved in. In the other I also went the distance, in 1983.

“Last week I thought about it and started walking people. Tonight I just stayed aggressive.”

Houston 3, Cincinnati 2--There will be a new World Series winner. That became official when the Reds lost this game at Houston.

There has not been a repeat winner in the World Series since the New York Yankees in 1977-78.

Jose Rijo (14-5), the most valuable player in Cincinnati’s World Series sweep of the Oakland Athletics last fall, was the loser of the game that mathematically eliminated the Reds in the West.

Philadelphia 8, Pittsburgh 3--Charlie Hayes had four of the Phillies’ 15 hits at Pittsburgh and the Pirates played it fast and loose.

The Pirates, who saw their magic number fall to three when the Cardinals lost, had two errors and couldn’t handle Tommy Greene (12-7). Greene beat the Pirates for the second time in six days, pitching a five-hitter.

San Diego 10, San Francisco 5--The Padres’ Fred McGriff homered twice at San Diego, drove in five runs and reached 100 runs batted in for the first time in his career.

McGriff has 29 home runs. Darrin Jackson also homered as the Padres ended the Giants’ five-game winning streak.

John Burkett (10-11) lasted three innings, giving up six runs on seven hits.