NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Nied Leads Rockies to Second Victory

Even before they had played a game, the Colorado Rockies designated rookie David Nied as their staff ace. Now, he has a victory to go with the title.

Nied scored his first victory of the season Saturday, pitching seven innings in leading the Rockies past the Montreal Expos, 9-5, before 65,261 at Denver.

Andres Galarraga drove in three runs, two with a home run during the first inning, as Colorado won for the second day in a row and improved to 2-2.

“I feel like I just got a big monkey off my back today,” Nied said. “(Manager Don Baylor) probably felt like he got a big monkey off his back yesterday when the team won for the first time, and I do, too.”

For the second day in a row, the Rockies homered during the first inning. Eric Young, who went four for four with a walk on Friday, reached base safely for the sixth consecutive time with a leadoff walk and scored on Galarraga’s 420-foot homer to left field.

The Rockies won despite being outhit, 12-7. Colorado made the most of its offense, leaving only one runner on base.

Nied (1-1) gave up nine hits in seven innings and left with a 5-4 lead. He worked out of jams in the first, third, sixth and seventh innings as the Expos stranded seven runners against him. Dennis Martinez (0-2) was the loser.

Houston 6, New York 3--Doug Drabek survived a shaky start for his 100th victory and first in a Houston uniform as the Astros won at New York.

Drabek (1-1) outpitched Dwight Gooden (1-1) in a matchup of former Cy Young Award winners.

Gooden, 14-6 lifetime against Houston, gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings. He also threw a wild pitch.

After losing their first three games of the season at home to Philadelphia, the Astros have won two in a row against the Mets.

Luis Gonzalez had a single, a double and a home run for Houston. He also drove in three runs, scored three times and stole a base.

San Francisco 12, Pittsburgh 5--Will Clark homered and drove in four runs as the Giants stopped the Pirates’ season-opening three-game winning streak.

Former Pirate star Barry Bonds had a quiet afternoon at Pittsburgh, going hitless in four at-bats, while his rookie replacement in left field for the Pirates, Al Martin, hit his first major league home run.

Steve Cooke (0-1) couldn’t hold a 4-2 lead. Dave Burba (1-0) gave up one run in three-plus relief innings.

Florida 2, San Diego 1--Charlie Hough held the Padres to five hits for eight innings as the expansion Marlins earned their second victory.

Hough (2-0) breezed most of the game at Miami, only three Padres getting into scoring position.

Dave Eiland of the Padres last won on April 23, 1991, for the New York Yankees. After the second inning, he held the Marlins hitless for five innings before leaving for a pinch-hitter in the eighth.

Philadelphia 5, Chicago 4--John Kruk drove in four runs for the Phillies against the Cubs at Philadelphia.

Terry Mulholland (2-0) took a two-hitter and a 5-2 lead into the ninth for the Phillies. But he made a throwing error on Rey Sanchez’s grounder to start the inning and Mark Grace followed with a home run. Mitch Williams relieved and struck out the side for his third save.

Mulholland walked none, struck out six and retired 18 in a row during one stretch. The first two runs he gave up were unearned.

Derrick May homered, his third in two days, during the first inning for the Cubs.

St. Louis 2, Cincinnati 1--Lee Smith blew a chance to become baseball’s all-time save leader, but the Cardinals came back to beat the Reds on Ozzie Smith’s run-scoring single during the 10th inning at St. Louis.

Joe Magrane pitched eight innings, giving up eight hits, striking out two and walking one for St. Louis. The Cardinals won their fourth in a row after losing on opening day. The Reds have lost four in a row after winning their opener.

Smith, tied with Cincinnati’s Jeff Reardon with 357 saves, relieved to start the ninth with a 1-0 lead. The Reds loaded the bases with none out and Gary Varsho hit a sacrifice fly.