NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Walks on the Wild Side Cost Astros in the 11th

Houston reliever Todd Jones hurt the Astros’ chances of winning the National League wild card Wednesday by walking the bases loaded in the 11th inning at Houston.

Mike Henneman was almost as much to blame, giving up a two-run single to Rich Aude that led Pittsburgh to a 6-3 victory.

“This has got to be one of the toughest things I’ve had to face,” Jones said. “The team was struggling and I didn’t do my job.”

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak and cost the Astros a chance to gain ground in the NL wild-card race.

With one out in the 11th, Jones (6-4) walked Al Martin, who stole second. One out later, Jones intentionally walked Orlando Merced and walked Jeff King. Henneman then gave up Aude’s two-run single to center.

Atlanta 6, Philadelphia 0--Greg Maddux extended his major league record with his 18th consecutive road victory, giving up three hits in six shutout innings at Philadelphia.

Maddux (19-2) finished the season with a 1.63 earned-run average, just above his 1.56 ERA of 1994. He is the first pitcher with an ERA under 1.80 in consecutive seasons since Walter Johnson in 1918-19.

San Diego 4, San Francisco 2--Fernando Valenzuela ended his 15th major league season with a flourish in San Francisco and began looking forward to next year. Valenzuela gave up one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings, and singled in a run as the Padres completed a three-game sweep.

Valenzuela (8-3), who has won six consecutive decisions, struck out four and walked three.

Florida 9, Montreal 3--Jeff Conine became the first Florida player to reach 100 RBIs in a season when he drove in four runs at Miami.

Pat Rapp (14-7) gave up three hits in seven scoreless innings, winning his ninth consecutive decision.

Chicago 5, St. Louis 3--Kevin Foster struck out a career-high 13 batters in seven innings at Chicago as the Cubs remained barely alive in the wild-card race.

New York 5-9, Cincinnati 4-2--Bill Spiers, who entered the nightcap batting .176, singled three times and drove in three runs as the Mets swept at New York.