NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Tomlin’s Pitching Is a Hit for Pirates

Doug Drabek, the Cy Young Award winner, has gone sour and another starter, Bob Walk, is on the disabled list, but the Pittsburgh Pirates keep rolling along.

Randy Tomlin, a 24-year-old left-hander, is a big reason.

Tomlin, who was 4-4 after joining the Pirates in the middle of last season, has given them four solid efforts this season.

He gave unexpected help with his bat Tuesday night at Pittsburgh and the Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-2.

Tomlin (3-0), who had only one hit in his previous 31 at-bats in the majors, singled in two runs in the fourth inning to highlight a five-run rally.

Tomlin pitched a strong six innings, giving up four hits and two runs, one unearned. When he gave up a hit to start the seventh, Stan Belinda took over and recorded his third save.

Tomlin has a 2.33 earned-run average and has given the Pirates at least six innings in each start.

The Reds fell to 13-12 after losing their second in a row to the National League East leaders.

Chris Hammond (3-1) gave up the big hit to Tomlin and later in the fourth inning gave up a two-run double to Jay Bell.

“I was just praying he didn’t throw me a curveball,” Tomlin said.

Hammond, who had given up a hit and walked two batters with two out to fill the bases, went with a fastball inside and Tomlin looped it into center.

“When he hit it, I knew it was going to fall,” Hammond said.

Montreal 3, San Francisco 2--One of the reasons the Giants are 9-17 and last in the West is their inability to coordinate pitching and hitting.

When the Giants score runs, it seems the pitching is horrible.

In this game at Montreal, Giant pitchers gave up only two runs and nine hits in 14 innings.

With one out in the 15th, however, Marquis Grissom hit his fourth home run to deal the faltering Giants their ninth loss in 11 games.

Grissom’s home run came on a 3-and-2 pitch from Trevor Wilson (0-3).

The Giants went ahead, 2-1, in the 12th on Will Clark’s sacrifice fly, but a two-out opposite-field double by Nelson Santovenia in the bottom of the inning tied it.

Atlanta 9, St. Louis 2--The Braves received offensive support from an unexpected source at Atlanta.

Shortstop Rafael Belliard, batting only .220, had a two-run double and a three-run triple to double his RBI total and help Steve Avery improve his record to 3-1.

Avery went eight solid innings and Jeff Parrett pitched a scoreless ninth as the Braves moved ahead of the Dodgers and Reds.

Chicago 4, Houston 3--Bob Scanlan gave up just one unearned run in seven innings at Houston and George Bell gave him a running start with a three-run home run in the first inning.

Dave Smith earned his second save in two nights against his former team, but he gave the home fans a thrill when he gave up a run-scoring single to Steve Finley. The game ended when Ken Caminiti grounded to second with the potential tying and winning runs in scoring position.

Scanlan, called up from the Cubs’ Iowa farm club when Mike Harkey was injured, lost his shutout in the seventh inning because of an error by shortstop Shawon Dunston.

San Diego 4, Philadelphia 2--The Phillies opened a nine-game trip at San Diego without two of their best players, Lenny Dykstra and Darren Daulton, and the results weren’t encouraging.

Bruce Hurst improved his record to 4-0 with help from three relievers and Fred McGriff extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games with a RBI single for the Padres.