May Slaps Homer In Astros’ Win

National League

Derrick May followed a bench-clearing brawl with a grand slam in the seventh inning Tuesday night and the Houston Astros snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Cincinnati Reds in convincing style with a 10-1 victory.

A series of bench-clearing incidents, starting when Reds reliever Xavier Hernandez threw inside to Brian Hunter in the sixth, eventually led to the ejections of Hernandez, Ron Gant, Lenny Harris and manager Davey Johnson of the Reds and Pat Borders, Doug Drabek and manager Terry Collins of the Astros.

Braves 1, Cardinals 0 Atlanta

Greg Maddux became the major leagues’ first 16-game winner with his fourth consecutive complete-game victory as Atlanta beat St. Louis. Fred McGriff gave Maddux the only run he needed when he lined Tom Urbani’s first pitch of the second inning over the center-field fence.

Mets 4, Padres 0 San Diego

Rookie Jason Isringhausen allowed five hits over eight innings and Jeff Kent and Damon Buford homered as New York beat San Diego.

Giants 9, Expos 6 San Francisco

Barry Bonds and Matt Williams hit back-to-back homers in the first inning and Mark Carreon sparked a three-run rally in the sixth with a home run to lift San Francisco.

Dodgers 2, Phillies 1 Los Angeles

Toby Borland walked Brett Butler with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth to force in the winning run for the Dodgers. Starter Hideo Nomo left in the fifth inning with a broken finger nail.

August’s bests

Mike Piazza of the Los Angeles Dodgers was designated National League player of the month of August, and Sid Fernandez of the Philadelphia Phillies was honored as N.L. pitcher of the month.

Clearing the bases

The Dodgers have arranged for an off-duty police officer to escort pitcher Hideo Nomo from Dodger Stadium to his Los Angeles-area home after each game. Although he did not request the arrangement, Nomo has received the escort for about a month after complaining to the team that someone had followed him home. … Bart Fisher, the attorney who has twice failed to land an expansion franchise for Washington, has to prove today he has the money to buy the Pirates.

The Pirates will turn to Sacramento newspaper heir Kevin McClatchy if Fisher’s proposal isn’t sound.