NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Glavine, Pendleton Give Braves Lift

It is unusual for either a most valuable player or a Cy Young Award winner to repeat.

But Terry Pendleton and Tom Glavine, both of the Atlanta Braves, are on track to win those honors again in the National League.

They combined their talents Wednesday at Atlanta to end the Braves’ three-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory over the Houston Astros.

With Cincinnati losing, the Braves moved back to a one-game lead in the West.

Although he struggled through most of his eight innings, Glavine became baseball’s first 16-game winner.

Pendleton, who sparked the Braves’ drive to the pennant last season, broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning with his 14th home run.

Glavine (16-3) won his 10th in a row and picked up his third victory against the Astros this season, but he didn’t think he pitched much better than he did when he was routed in the All-Star game. He gave up nine hits and walked five against the Astros, who are 8-3 against him lifetime.

Alejandro Pena pitched a scoreless ninth for his 12th save.

“I had to battle through it,” said Glavine, who was 20-11 in 1991. “It was frustrating at times. I felt good, but I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be.”

Most of the other key Brave hitters have struggled this season, but Pendleton has been consistently good, batting .298 with 58 runs batted in.

Ken Caminiti’s run-scoring double in the top of the seventh had pulled the Astros even, but Pendleton hit a 3-and-1 pitch from reliever Willie Blair (2-6) for the tiebreaker.

Chicago 6, Pittsburgh 4--The Pirates, who jumped to a 4-0 lead in three innings, lost their third in a row and eighth in the past 10 games.

Ryne Sandberg’s two-run home run in the seventh at Chicago brought the Cubs even. In the 11th inning, Sammy Sosa, hitless in five previous appearances, the last three on strikes, hit a two-run home run to beat Stan Belinda.

Sosa, who had been out with a broken right hand since June 13, returned for the opener of the three-game series Monday night. In two games he was six for nine.

Belinda walked winning pitcher Paul Assenmacher (3-2) with one out before Sosa hit his seventh home run.

Barry Bonds hit his 19th home run for the Pirates in the second inning and singled in a run in the third.

San Diego 7, Cincinnati 3--Gary Sheffield hit his 19th home run and drove in another run with a double at San Diego to help rookie Frank Seminara win for the sixth time in seven decisions.

Benito Santiago went three for three and Darrin Jackson and Kurt Stillwell hit home runs as the Padres routed Tom Bolton (1-1) in the left-hander’s second National League start.

Sheffield has 66 runs batted in, breaking Graig Nettles’ record for the most by a Padre third baseman.

Philadelphia 6, New York 3--Dave Hollins hit a grand slam to break a tie in the eighth inning at Philadelphia and the Phillies handed the Mets their fourth loss in the past five games.

Mitch Williams (3-3) pitched the last two innings to get the victory.

St. Louis 4, Montreal 1--The Expos were set to take over sole possession of first in the East.

But Bernard Gilkey and Andres Galarraga foiled the plans of Dennis Martinez at St. Louis.

First, Galarraga hit a 428-foot home run in the seventh to tie the game.

With two on and one out in the ninth, Gilkey, in a six-for-36 slump, hit a long fly to left-center that carried over the wall for a three-run home run, his first of the season.