NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Errors Are No Comedy, Braves Split With Reds

There is no quit in the Atlanta Braves. They may not win the National League West, but it won’t be for lack of effort.

After scratching out a 2-1 victory in 10 innings of the first game of Wednesday night’s doubleheader against Cincinnati, they fell a run short in the 10th inning in the nightcap, 10-9.

The second game climaxed an eventful day, which began with the early morning arrests of rookies Brian Hunter and Keith Mitchell in separate drunk driving incidents and included the return of Deion Sanders.

The split left Atlanta, with 10 games remaining, trailing the Dodgers, who lost to the San Diego Padres, by 1 1/2 games.

Terry Pendleton hustled a single into a double in the 10th inning of the opener and scored the winning run on Ron Gant’s single.

There were five errors charged in the action-packed second game and several that weren’t.

The Braves built a 7-4 lead, but in the sixth inning Manager Bobby Cox brought Jim Clancy in to try to save Steve Avery’s 18th victory. Clancy gave up a triple, a home run, a single and a double and it was a tie game again.

In the 10th inning the Reds, who had 16 hits, including home runs by Chris Sabo and Joe Oliver, jumped on Mike Stanton for three runs in an inning that featured Billy Hatcher’s two-run triple.

Rob Dibble faced the Braves in the ninth. He survived a triple and two doubles, and the Braves had the tying run on second base with one out. Mark Lemke flied out and pinch-hitter Francisco Cabrera struck out to end the game.

Sanders, a defensive back with the Atlanta Falcons, arrived after football practice an hour late for the opener. He stole second base as a pinch-runner in the ninth inning of the opening game but was stranded. He was out on a force play at second base in the second game.

Lonnie Smith, who is the replacement in left field for Otis Nixon, lost for the rest of the season after testing positive for cocaine, homered in the seventh inning of the opener to set the stage for Gant.

There were 10 pitchers used in the second game, which lasted 3 1/2 hours. There were two Reds thrown out at the plate, and both sides were guilty of mental errors as well as physical ones.

Philadelphia 5, Chicago 4--John Kruk hit two home runs, one with the bases loaded. The Cubs hit three homers, including Andre Dawson’s 29th.

Montreal 7, St. Louis 2--Rookie Brian Barnes (5-6) pitched his first complete game, a 10-hitter at St. Louis.

San Francisco 2, Houston 1--John Burkett (11-11) pitched six strong innings at Houston and assured the Astros (37-41) their first losing record at home since 1975.