National League Roundup : Pirates’ Kramer Gets Reprieve in 7th, Loses No-Hitter in 8th

Randy Kramer thought he lost his no-hitter in the seventh inning. But the official scorer ruled an error.

Despite the reprieve, however, he lost it in the eighth.

Kramer pitched a one-hitter in his fourth major league start, allowing only Ron Oester’s two-out double in the eighth inning Tuesday night as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-0, at Cincinnati.

Kramer was trying to become the 14th rookie to pitch a no-hitter and the first since the Oakland A’s Mike Warren beat the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 29, 1983.

Kramer’s bid seemed in jeopardy when Herm Winningham opened the seventh with a hard grounder to the glove side of first baseman Sid Bream.

The ball deflected off Bream’s mitt and bounced away. Kramer refused to look toward the outfield for a ruling.

“I tried not to look at the scoreboard,” he said. “I could tell by the response of the crowd. If they cheered it was a hit. If they booed it was an error.”

There were cheers when the scoreboard operators, without waiting for a decision, immediately posted “Hit.” But official scorer Glen Sample ruled it an error after watching the replay.

“That’s the way I’ve been calling them all year,” said Sample, a former University of Cincinnati baseball coach and an official scorer for 10 years. “I thought the ball was one step away to his right. It bounced off his glove and went into the outfield.”

Kramer finished the seventh safely and retired the first two batters in the eighth. Jeff Reed then hit a grounder that second baseman Jose Lind dropped for another error.

Oester, batting only .175 and batting eighth, followed with an opposite-field drive to left that landed 10 feet inside the line.

Houston 8, St. Louis 7--Rafael Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly in the 11th inning and Bill Doran drove in five runs for the Astros at Houston.

Craig Biggio led off the 11th with a triple, and Greg Gross and Gerald Young were intentionally walked to load the bases. Ramirez hit a fly to shallow center field and Biggio beat Willie McGee’s throw to the plate.

Dan Schatzeder (1-0) pitched three scoreless innings to earn the victory. Cris Carpenter (1-3) took the loss.

Doran, who matched his career-high for runs batted in, tied the score, 7-7, with a two-run homer in the seventh inning. Doran’s fourth home run came after Ramirez’s single.

San Diego 5, Montreal 2--Struggling Jack Clark drove in three runs with a single and a homer at Montreal.

Eric Show (5-4) pitched 7 2/3 innings for the victory. He gave up seven hits, walked five and struck out five. Gregg Harris relieved Show to earn his first save.

Consecutive singles by Roberto Alomar, Tony Gwynn and Clark tied the score, 1-1, in the third. Benito Santiago was safe on an error at third by Tim Wallach, which permitted Gwynn to score for a 2-1 lead.

Brian Holman hit Tony Gwynn with a pitch to start the fifth. Clark, who entered the game batting .184, followed with his sixth home run to give the Padres a 4-1 lead.

Chicago 4, Atlanta 3--The Braves’ Tom Glavine (5-1) had not lost in eight starts since September of last season.

But Ryne Sandberg hit a two-run triple in a four-run first inning at Chicago to beat Glavine, who pitched to only four batters. Glavine left the game after he twisted his left ankle running to cover first base.

Scott Sanderson (4-2) allowed four hits in six innings.

San Francisco 13, Philadelphia 5--Atlee Hammaker won his first start of the season and drove in three runs as the Giants had a season-high 18 hits in a game at Philadelphia.