European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 19, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Major leagues Lead to 5 by United press International it might have been a preview of playoffs and if it was the playoffs will be every bit As entertaining As they Are supposed to be. A it just does no to get any better than that a said Cincinnati manager Davey Johnson whose reas upped their Lead to five games a largest in the majors a Over the St. Louis cardinals in the National leagues Central division. The reds rallied to tie the game in the ninth inning and then see Page 25 for standings Box scores downed the East leading Atlanta braves 4-3, tuesday night when Jacob Brumfield produced a sacrifice Fly in the 10th. The other National league action saw Chicago overwhelm san Diego 11-4 Philadelphia Edge Montreal 6-5 St. Louis Blank Pittsburgh 2-0 new York defeat Florida 4-3 san Francisco beat Houston 5-2 and Colorado rally past los Angeles 7-6. In the american league Kansas City shut out Seattle 4-0 Cleveland won Oyer Milwaukee 7-3 Baltimore nipped Boston 3-2 Detroit overpowered Toronto 13-6 Minnesota cooled off new York 54 Chicago blasted California 10-2 and Texas won in 10 innings Over Oakland 8-7. Nuggets Hawks keep Hopes alive in by the associated press the Denver nuggets stayed alive in a cart stopper. The Atlanta Hawks stayed alive with some breathing room. The Phoenix suns needed to be checked for a pulse. A in three distinctly different game 5s on tuesday night three teams came away with 3-2 leads in the Aba conference semifinals. Two of the teams a Utah and Indiana missed chances to close out their series. Houston meanwhile continued its comeback from a 2-0 deficit with its third straight Victory. The nuggets beat the jazz 109-101 in double overtime the Hawks beat the pacers 88-76 and the rockets crushed the suns 109-86. _ Denver a Victory was the most exciting. Both teams had chances to win before it reached double overtime. John Stockton barely missed an off balance 10-footer from the Corner at the end of regulation and Robert pack clanged a 3-Point attempt at the end of the first overtime. That sent it into a second extra period and Denver ran off the first seven Points to silence the crowd at the Delta Center. Brian Williams scored the first two Points on a Dunk off a pass from pack. A at that Point we knew we had the momentum with us a Williams said. A we had everything going for us. We knew we could definitely do it.�?�. Utah got within four 103-99, on Tyrone corbins 3-Pointer with 52 seconds the stars and stripes May 19,1994 Page 28 see Page 25 for Aba summaries left but jazz players forced their next two shots. Denver made its free throws in the final seconds to close it out. It was Denver a fifth straight Victory in a win or go Home situation. The nuggets trailed Seattle 2-0 in they opening found of the playoffs then won the next three. They trailed Utah 3-0 in this series before winning two straight. Bryant Stith and Mahmoud Abdul Rauf scored 22 Points each for Denver. Pack and Williams added 19 apiece. Karl Malone had 22 Points for Utah. Game 6 is thursday at Denver. Game 7, if necessary would be saturday at Salt Lake City. V \ a. A. Quot a a a a \ a Hawks 88, pacers 76 at Atlanta the Hawks shut Down the pacers with the kind of intense defensive Effort they were missing in games 3 and 4. Quot Quot a the pacers shot Only 35 percent from the Field and were scoreless in the final 2 39 As they failed to get the Ball into Reggie Millers hands. Haywoode Workman ended up 0-for-8 from the Field and Byron Scott was 2-for-ll.Atlanta a cookie Blaylock turned in his second triple double of the series with 14 Points 13 assists and 10 rebounds. He also had four steals and a blocked shot. Craig Ehlo came off the Bench to score 22 Points and Danny Manning added 20 for the Hawks who pulled away late in the fourth Quarter. Rockets 109, suns 86 at Houston it was Over shortly after it started. A. A a a. The rockets had a pair of Early 9-0 spurts the second of which gave them a 27-13 Lead in the first Quarter. They opened the second period with a 10-1 run in route to a 58-37 halftime Lead. By the time the fourth period was three minutes old the Lead was up to 32. It was the first Victory for a Home team in the series. A Hakeem Olajuwon and Otis Thorpe each scored 20 Points for Houston. Anaheim Calif. Up the California Angels tuesday fired manager Buck Rodgers and replaced him with Florida marlins pitching coach Marcel  managerial move was the first in the majors this  Angels have lost three straight games to fall to 16-23. They Are in third 1. A Hin games to fall to 16-23. They Are in Mira place in the american league West two games behind first place Texas and a Naif game behind  52, spent 11 seasons in the Angels organization before joining the. Expansion marlins last season under his brother  returning to Mavericks Dallas a Dick Motta the original coach of the Dallas Mavericks returned to the Job tuesday hoping to revive the a bad a worst team and restore his reputation after bolting the club seven years ago. He succeeds Quinn Buckner who was fired two weeks ago after a 13-69 record in his Only season. Motta 62, mended fences with owner Don Carter after abruptly leaving the team in 1987, Carter brought him aboard As an unpaid consultant last season. ,. Motta said he did not sign a contract new Jersey devils goalie Martin Broduer sits in the net As the no 22 is the devils Claude Lemieux the devils won 4-0 tues for his second stint with the Mavericks. New York rangers Mark Messier celebrates his first period Day night to tie the nil Eastern conference final at 1-1. See a i Shook hands with this Guy just like i goal with teammates Esa Tikkanen left and Glenn Anderson. Page 26 for a summary of the game did in igg0 a a he said pointing to Carter. Rangers pull even