NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Hill Throws One to Braves, 5-1

Atlanta’s Charlie Leibrandt was throwing strikes Tuesday night at Montreal, while Ken Hill, was throwing the ball away.

Leibrandt (10-4) gave up just four hits and didn’t walk a batter while pitching the Braves to a 5-1 victory, their 14th in 17 games.

Hill (13-5) blew the game with two wild throws in a three-run third inning that gave Leibrandt all the runs he needed.

The Braves held a 1-0 lead when Deion Sanders and Mark Lemke opened the third with singles. When Terry Pendleton sacrificed, Hill picked up the bunt and fired to third. However, third baseman Tim Wallach was charging the bunt and the throw went into left field to score two runs. Later in the inning, Hill tried to pick off David Justice and threw the ball into center to set up the third run.

Leibrandt joins Tom Glavine (18 victories), John Smoltz (14), and Steve Avery (10) giving Atlanta four starters in double figures.

“I was skeptical pitching here,” Leibrandt said.

“I haven’t had much luck. I’m just not a dome-stadium kind of pitcher. I don’t feel comfortable pitching in it. I thought I would pitch against the Pirates Monday and would miss pitching here. I thought that was good.

“I just went out and pitched. It was a good test and things worked out OK.”

With Cincinnati splitting a doubleheader, the Braves increased their lead in the NL West to 5 1/2 games.

Pittsburgh 5, San Diego 1--The pattern for Randy Tomlin this season has been to be awful one month and awesome the next. August is his month to be awesome.

The streaky left-hander gave up seven hits in eight innings at Pittsburgh to give the Pirates their first win over the Padres after six defeats. In August, Tomlin (12-8) is 2-0 with an earned-run average of 1.80.

Tomlin was 4-0 in April, 1-3 in May, 5-1 in June and 0-3 with an ERA of 5.45 in July. Manager Jim Leyland stayed with him and Tomlin is winning again.

Barry Bonds drove in two runs as the Pirates moved three games ahead of Montreal in the East.

The defeat dropped the Padres nine games behind Atlanta in the West.

“If we don’t make some kind of move soon, we’re in trouble, “ said Gary Sheffield, who drove in the Padres’ run.

Cincinnati 6-1, Philadelphia 0-6--After Greg Swindell got the Reds off to a solid start in the opener of the doubleheader at Philadelphia, Curt Schilling shut them down in the nightcap to get the Phillies a split.

Swindell (12-5) pitched a seven-hitter for his third shutout, striking out eight and walking only one.

Schilling (11-7) was even better in the second game. He held the Reds hitless until Jose Rijo led off the sixth with a single.

Not only did Schilling pitch a four-hitter for his fifth victory in his last seven decisions, he had two hits and drove in a run.

Dave Hollins hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning.

Reggie Sanders, Glenn Braggs and Chris Sabo homered for the Reds in the opener.

Phillies’ outfielder Wes Chamberlain tripped over first base in the seventh inning of the opener and sprained his ankle. He will be out at least two weeks.

Chicago 4, San Francisco 1--The Giants, shut out without a hit by Kevin Gross Monday night, were shut out on 10 hits until two were out in the ninth at San Francisco.

But Greg Litton hit a two-out home run off Mike Morgan (11-6), who is 3-0 against the Giants this season.

Andre Dawson hit his 17th home run for the Cubs.

Houston 7, St. Louis 6--The Cardinals performed a rare feat--three home runs in a game at St. Louis--and still got beat.

The Astros, showing no signs of being road-weary in their 21st of 26 consecutive games on the road, rallied for four runs in the seventh inning to come from behind and improve their record on the journey to 9-12.

Ray Lankford, Rich Gedman and Gerald Perry hit home runs for the Cardinals.