NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Bonds Puts His Weight Into a Win Over Reds

Barry Bonds is only hitting his weight, but his fleet feet are carrying the Pittsburgh Pirates to victory.

His playing weight is 185 and his average, after going one for three Wednesday night at Cincinnati, is .185.

The hit, a single, drove in the tying run in the eighth inning and he worked a double steal with Bobby Bonilla, who scored the winning run in a 6-4 victory over the Reds.

Sunday at New York, it was Bonds who stole home on the front end of a steal and drove in three runs with a pair of singles in another victory.

“We don’t do double steals,” Bonds said. “They are freak accidents.

“I do feel that I’m starting to swing the bat good. I’m ready to lend a hand on offense.”

Hard-throwing Randy Myers failed for the second time in five chances to preserve a lead.

Bonds singled home the run that made it 4-4. When it appeared Myers had him picked off first, Bonds beat the throw to second. Bonilla, who was on third, broke for home on the play and scored.

Barry Larkin carried the Reds’ offense. He was four for four, including a home run.

The come-from-behind victory gave the Pirates a 14-7 record, the best in the National League. They’ve done all this without Bonds’ hitting and with their best pitcher, Doug Drabek, off to a horrible start.

San Diego 8, New York 7--Darrin Jackson drove in the go-ahead run with a suicide squeeze in the sixth inning at New York, and the Padres ended a four-game losing streak.

Fred McGriff homered and drove in three runs to help Bruce Hurst (3-0) beat Frank Viola (3-1).

Hurst had to overcome a shaky third inning in which he gave up three runs and fell behind.

Philadelphia 4, San Francisco 1--Emergency starter Tommy Greene pitched six shutout innings at Philadelphia and drove in a run.

It was the fifth victory in a row for the Phillies and the seventh loss in nine games for the Giants.

Greene was pressed into service because Jose DeJesus had stiffness in his back and couldn’t pitch. Greene (1-0) gave up two hits and struck out five.

Chicago 11, Houston 8--Hector Villanueva is normally the Cubs’ third-string catcher. But with Joe Girardi on the disabled list and Damon Barryhill in a slump, Villanueva is making the most of his opportunity.

Villanueva hit home runs his first two times up at Chicago to help the Cubs outslug the Astros and give him five consecutive hits.

Tuesday he finished with a homer, double and single. The string ended with a ground out in the fourth.

“We were going so bad, I decided to get him in there and see if he might pop a couple,” Manager Don Zimmer of the Cubs said.

Andre Dawson hit a three-run home run for the Cubs, giving him six home runs for the season.

Atlanta 5, St. Louis 4--The Cardinals finally ran out of late-inning magic and the Braves welcomed some of their own at St. Louis.

After the Braves blew a four-run lead, they finally ended their three-game losing streak by pushing over a run in the 10th inning on an infield out by Dave Justice.

The Cardinals have seven come-from-behind victories, including the first two in this series.

“This was a big one for us to win,” Justice said. “When the meat of our lineup starts to hit, we’ll explode.”