Chuck Mcelroy

A triple and wild pitch enabled the Canton-Akron Indians to defeat the Reading Phillies, 7-5, last night in an Eastern League game. Canton's Jim Orsage's fifth-inning triple scored Darren Epley. Orsage then scored on reliever Toby Borland's wild pitch as the Indians took a 6-2 lead and withstood a late Reading rally. Canton's Tom Kramer got the win, and Reading's Cliff Brantley picked up the loss. PAWTUCKET 6, SCRANTON 5 MOOSIC, Pa. - Julius McDougal's home run in the fifth inning helped the Pawtucket Red Sox to a victory over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons in an International League game.

Rick Lancellotti and Mickey Tina each drove in two runs and Eric Hetzel pitched a complete game to lead the Pawtucket Red Sox to a 4-1 victory over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons last night in an International League game. Lancellotti hit his 13th home run of the year in the first inning off losing pitcher Chuck McElroy (4-5). HARRISBURG 9, READING 4 READING - Six errors - three in the ninth inning leading to four unearned runs - enabled the Harrisburg Senators to rout the Reading Phillies in an Eastern League game last night.

Ray Lankford doubled in the winning run on the first pitch thrown by reliever Chuck McElroy as the Louisville Redbirds edged the Scranton/Wilkes- Barre Red Barons, 1-0, in a Triple-A Alliance game last night. Lankford , second in the American Association with 57 RBIs, drove in Bernard Gilkey, who led off the eighth with a walk. Todd Crosby then singled to chase Alex Madrid (3-4), who had pitched seven scoreless innings. Howard Hilton (4-2) was the winning pitcher for the Redbirds, and Mike Perez earned his league-leading 21st save.

Bernard Gilkey hit a two-run homer off loser Chuck McElroy in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Louisville Redbirds to a 3-2 victory over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons in a Triple-A Alliance game last night. Gilkey's shot, his second of the year, brought in Mauricio Nunez. McElroy, who started the season with the Phillies, fell to 5-6. HAGERSTOWN 2, READING 1 BALTIMORE - A two-run homer by Craig Faulkner lifted the Hagerstown Suns over the Reading Phillies at Memorial Stadium last night.

Wally Ritchie and Chuck McElroy combined to pitch a four-hitter as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons beat the Tidewater Tides, 4-2, last night in an International League game. Ritchie (4-1) took a two-hit shutout into the eighth, but left the game after pinch-hitter Chris Jelic walked and Mike DeButch followed with a run- scoring triple. Ritchie allowed three hits and three walks and was charged with both runs. He struck out four. McElroy earned his fifth save by retiring six of the seven batters he faced, including three on strikeouts.

As the exhibition season fades into its final days, the Phillies pay more and more attention to wins and losses. But perhaps even more important the individual performances will help team executives make their final roster decisions. The Phillies have won three of their last four after yesterday's 7-2 win over St. Louis to improve their exhibition record to 9-16-1. Guillermo Hernandez and Chuck McElroy, competing to make the team as the lefthanded reliever, each pitched an inning and gave up one hit. Hernandez walked two and had a wild pitch; McElroy walked one. "I thought they both pitched well," manager Nick Leyva said.

The Anaheim Angels reacquired Tony Phillips from the Chicago White Sox in a trade yesterday. Phillips, who left the Angels as a free agent after the 1995 season, and catcher Chad Kreuter were acquired for lefthanded reliever Chuck McElroy and catcher Jorge Fabregas. Phillips likely will supplant Darin Erstad as leadoff hitter and Eddie Murray as the primary designated hitter. Murray, 41, is hitting .219, with two homers and 10 RBIs in 32 games. In 1995, Phillips scored 119 runs and hit 27 home runs as the Angels' leadoff hitter.

Jim Adduci singled through a drawn-in infield to score the winning run as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons rallied in the ninth inning to beat Louisville, 2-1, in a Triple-A Alliance game last night. Down a run at 1-0, the Red Barons got a leadoff double from Mickey Morandini and an RBI single from Louie Meadows to tie the score. After Steve Stanicek singled and Chris Knabenshue walked to load the bases, Adduci lined the game-winning hit between shortstop and third. Scranton starter Tim Mauser allowed only an unearned run in 6 1/3 innings, and Steve Scharts pitched one-hit ball for the next 1 2/3 innings.

It took seven different hitters driving in runs, but the Scranton/Wilkes- Barre Red Barons fought back from a five-run, fourth-inning deficit to defeat the Richmond Braves, 7-6, in an International League game last night. John Gibbons was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth to score the tying run. Then Mickey Morandini drew a walk for the eventual game- winner. Todd Frohwirth, who retired all three batters he faced in the top of the eighth, got the win, and Chuck McElroy came on in the ninth to record a save.

Reading's Tim Mauser carried a perfect game into the seventh inning yesterday, and the Phillies defeated the Hagerstown Suns, 4-0, in an Eastern League game. Mauser (3-3) retired 19 in a row before giving up his first hit. He wound up allowing two hits and striking out five. Rod Robertson was the leading hitter for the Phillies, with two singles and three RBIs. Mike Cavers (1-7) took the loss. SYRACUSE 3, SCRANTON 2 SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Derek Bell homered off Scranton/Wilkes-Barre reliever Chuck McElroy in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Syracuse Chiefs a 3-2 victory over the Red Barons in the International League.

For the first time this season, the Phillies slammed two home runs in the first inning of a game. That, from the Phillies' perspective, was the good news yesterday. The bad news: Omar Daal, pitching with a sore left ankle, had his worst outing in the last six weeks as the Phillies dropped a 6-2 decision to the San Diego Padres at sweltering Veterans Stadium, where the on-the-field temperature reached 148.7 degrees. The Phils' offense wasn't nearly as hot. So far, the same can be said for the beat-the-deadline trades made by general manager Ed Wade.

For most of the last five years, Cal Eldred's career has hinged on the condition of his right elbow. So when he pitched a two-hitter last night for his first complete game in nearly three years, he was quick with a joke. "I don't need any more shots in my arm," he said after pitching the Chicago White Sox to an 8-2 win over the visiting Baltimore Orioles. "I've had enough of those. " Eldred retired 26 of the final 27 batters, as the White Sox won their sixth straight. Rookie Josh Paul hit his first major league homer, a three-run shot in the second against Mike Mussina (0-2)

Five grand slams were hit last night, the first time that's happened in 129 years of major-league baseball Fernando Tatis of the St. Louis Cardinals and Jose Vidro of the Montreal Expos got it started early. Mike Lowell of the Florida Marlins connected, Bernie Williams of the New York Yankees followed, and Jay Buhner of the Seattle Mariners set the record. Four grand slams had been hit in one day many times, the last time coming on July 28, 1998. Former Cy Young Award winner Jack McDowell, who failed in his attempt to make a comeback from elbow and shoulder surgery, was placed on unconditional-release waivers yesterday by the Anaheim Angels.

If Jim Leyritz is changing teams, another baseball trading deadline must have arrived. Well, that deadline came and went last night. And Leyritz's return to the Yankees was one of several fascinating deals. Angels ace Chuck Finley did not get traded. But among the well-known pitchers who were dealt were Juan Guzman (from Baltimore to Cincinnati), Kevin Appier (from Kansas City to Oakland), and relievers Billy Taylor (Oakland to the Mets) and Chuck McElroy (Colorado to the Mets)

The best salve for the Colorado Rockies was playing baseball. Playing for the first time since 15 people died in the shootings at Columbine High School in suburban Denver, the visiting Rockies had seven consecutive hits while scoring five runs in the first to defeat the San Francisco Giants yesterday, 8-5. "I think there was some pent-up energy there, we hadn't played in a while," said Dante Bichette, whose two-run homer highlighted the...

Every trip Carlton Loewer makes to the mound this season is like time spent in the classroom. The rookie righthander, who the Phillies hope will be a mainstay in their rotation for years to come, learned a couple of lessons in his 15th major-league start last night. First, if you throw letter-high fastballs to big-league hitters - even fellow rookies - they usually end up landing about 10 rows up in the outfield bleachers. The second, and maybe more important, lesson Loewer learned was that even on nights when his best stuff disappears on the long walk in from the bullpen, a pitcher can still keep his ball club in the game if he scratches, claws, bites and kicks.

Phillies rightfielder Bobby Abreu was describing his 10th-inning, game-winning single against the Colorado Rockies when reliever Yorkis Perez playfully struck from behind and splattered him in the face with a shaving-cream pie. The old pie-in-the-face trick has been a staple of late for the Phillies, who had been getting creamed on the field instead of in the clubhouse. Yesterday's 7-6 victory at Veterans Stadium, which snapped a two-game losing streak, was only the fourth in the last 11 games for a team that had been highly innovative in finding ways to lose.

The Anaheim Angels reacquired Tony Phillips from the Chicago White Sox in a trade yesterday. Phillips, who left the Angels as a free agent after the 1995 season, and catcher Chad Kreuter were acquired for lefthanded reliever Chuck McElroy and catcher Jorge Fabregas. Phillips likely will supplant Darin Erstad as leadoff hitter and Eddie Murray as the primary designated hitter. Murray, 41, is hitting .219, with two homers and 10 RBIs in 32 games. In 1995, Phillips scored 119 runs and hit 27 home runs as the Angels' leadoff hitter.

On a day rife with baseball rarities, sweeping the Royals three straight in Kansas City wasn't even close to being the California Angels' most unusual feat. There was Tim Wallach's homering off Jeff Montgomery in the eighth to tie the game, then doing the same thing to the same guy in the 10th to give the visiting Angels a 4-3 victory. There was Chuck McElroy's getting the victory in relief for three consecutive days, the eighth man in baseball history to do it. The most recent was Pittsburgh's Kent Tekulve in 1980.

F.P. was more than OK. F.P. Santangelo, starting in place of injured centerfielder Rondell White, set career bests with four hits and five RBI and the Montreal Expos used two grand slams to set a team record for runs in a game with a 21-9 victory yesterday over the host Colorado Rockies. "I'm an extra guy on the bench, so it was just fun for me to get some at-bats and to play - period," said Santangelo, who missed hitting for the cycle when he pulled up at second base with a ninth-inning double.