NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : In a Brave New World, Glavine Beats Cubs, 5-3

Tom Glavine suffered through the bad times with the Atlanta Braves, but now he’s enjoying himself.

Glavine pitched his third complete game and doubled home a run Monday night at Chicago as the Braves maintained their one-game lead atop the NL West with a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

The Braves won their third consecutive game and 13th in the last 19.

“I threw strikes, worked ahead of the hitters and let the defense make the plays,” said Glavine, who coasted into the ninth before giving up a two-run homer to Andre Dawson.

Glavine (5-2), who lost 17 games for the Braves in 1988, gave up eight hits, struck out five and walked none. He also gave himself a 1-0 lead with a double off Shawn Boskie (2-4) in the second inning that scored Rafael Belliard from first base.

“I came up there with the intention of putting the ball in play,” Glavine said. “I work hard on my hitting. I was just hoping Rafael would get going and get home.”

Ron Gant doubled in the third and scored on a single by Sid Bream to make it 2-0. The Cubs scored off Glavine in the sixth on doubles by Jerome Walton and Mark Grace, but Terry Pendleton chased Boskie and made it 3-1 with a homer in the seventh.

David Justice added a two-run single in the eighth.

St. Louis 1, Cincinnati 0--Ken Hill held the Reds to two hits in eight innings and Ozzie Smith singled home the Cardinals’ run in the eighth inning at St. Louis.

Bernard Gilkey led off the eighth with a ground-rule double off Randy Myers (0-3), and Rex Hudler had an infield hit before Smith blooped his single to center.

The outing by Hill (3-2) was the Cardinals’ longest of the season. Jeff Reed had both hits for Reds, a single with one out in the third and a leadoff single in the eighth.

Hill pitched only 29 1/3 innings in his first six starts. He struck out six and walked two after entering the game 0-3 with a 5.18 career earned-run average against Cincinnati.

Lee Smith pitched the ninth for his 11th save in 12 opportunities.

Cincinnati’s Chris Hammond allowed four hits in seven innings, striking out three and walking two.

San Diego 5, New York 2--Andy Benes won for the first time in 14 starts and the Padres ended a five-game losing streak by defeating the Mets at San Diego.

Benes (1-4) was working on his first major league shutout when Howard Johnson hit a two-run homer with one out in the seventh. Kevin McReynolds and Tom Herr singled to chase Benes, but Steve Rosenberg got out of the inning.

Craig Lefferts pitched two shutout innings to get his eighth save.

Benes (1-4), who struck out four and walked one, hadn’t won since Aug. 24, 1990 at Montreal.

Tony Gwynn hit his first homer since July 15 at Pittsburgh when he connected off David Cone (3-2), after Bip Roberts doubled, to give San Diego a 2-0 lead in the first.

Tony Fernandez singled and later scored on Cone’s wild pitch in the sixth, and Benito Santiago hit a two-run homer in the eighth.

Philadelphia 3, San Francisco 2--John Kruk homered with one out in the 11th inning to lift the Phillies to a victory at San Francisco after the Giants rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the ninth.

Kruk, who missed the last two games with neck spasms, hit his fifth homer of the season off Rod Beck (0-1). Philadelphia’s Joe Boever (2-3) pitched two innings to pick up the victory.

The Giants tied the score against Mitch Williams in the ninth when Steve Decker homered, Dave Anderson singled and Matt Williams doubled home Anderson.

Danny Cox, who allowed the Giants three hits in seven innings, walked in the sixth and scored on a double by Wally Backman. Dale Murphy homered to lead off the seventh, making it 2-0 with his 58th career homer against the Giants--25 at Candlestick Park.

Giant outfielder Kevin Mitchell, who leads the majors with 10 home runs, sprained his ankle trying to steal second base in the second inning and is expected to miss at least three games.