NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Braves Find Out Early What It’s Like to Struggle

It’s not supposed to be this way, the expansion Florida Marlins on a hot streak and the two-time National League champion Atlanta Braves in a four-game losing streak and under .500.

But that’s the way it is.

Benito Santiago’s infield single in the ninth inning drove in the go-ahead run Wednesday night and Florida went on to defeat Atlanta 3-1.

The victory was the Marlins’ second in a row and fourth in five games. The Braves, meanwhile, fell under .500 for the first time since last June.

Marlin pinch-hitter Greg Briley was hit by a pitch from reliever Steve Bedrosian (0-2) to open the ninth. After a sacrifice, Junior Felix singled to right, but Briley had to stop at third after he slipped rounding the bag.

Santiago followed with his single, scoring Briley, and Felix moved to third on shortstop Jeff Blauser’s throwing error. Orestes Destrade followed with a sacrifice fly.

Bob McClure (1-1) picked up the victory by getting the final out in the eighth inning. Bryan Harvey got his seventh save in eight attempts with a scoreless ninth inning.

Houston 6, Chicago 1--At Houston, Greg Swindell won his fourth start in a row and the first-place Astros won for the 12th time in their last 16 games.

Swindell (4-1) pitched eight innings, giving up seven hits.

The Astros scored four runs in the second inning off Chicago starter Jose Guzman (4-2).

Ken Caminiti hit a one-out home run to right, his second homer in as many nights, to make it 1-0. Andujar Cedeno later had a two-out single, his sixth consecutive hit, and scored on Eddie Taubensee’s triple.

Cincinnati 4, Pittsburgh 2--Joe Oliver hit a three-run home run and the Reds turned five double plays to beat the Pirates at Cincinnati.

Tim Pugh (2-1) gave up eight hits in seven-plus innings but generally stayed out of trouble because of the Cincinnati defense, which was one double play short of the club record.

St. Louis 7, Colorado 6--Rod Brewer singled home the winning run with two out in the ninth after two Rockies fielders allowed a pop fly to drop between in an earlier play at Denver.

Colorado reliever Darren Holmes walked the bases loaded with one out before Luis Alicea’s soft popup fell between shortstop Vinny Castilla and left fielder Jerald Clark, allowing the tying run to score. Brewer followed with a ground single between first and second, scoring Tom Pagnozzi.

Philadelphia 5, San Diego 3--Dave Hollins continued his hot-hitting at San Diego as the Phillies continued their winning ways.

At a major league best 15-5 with two games left this month, the Phillies surpassed their previous best victory total for April--14 in 1979.

Hollins, a second-year player, drove in two runs to boost his total to 17 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium--the most he has at any road ballpark. His double into the right-center field gap off Greg Harris (1-4) in the fourth scored Ricky Jordan, and he made it 4-0 in the eighth by driving in Jordan with a bloop single to center.

Curt Schilling (4-1) was five outs away from his second straight shutout before the Padres scored two runs in the eighth on Fred McGriff’s sacrifice fly and Guillermo Velasquez’s pinch-hit single.

San Francisco 4, New York 3--Matt Williams’ run-scoring single with two out in the ninth inning at San Francisco sent the Mets to their fourth loss in a row.

Met starter Frank Tanana had a two-run single in the fifth inning, the first hit of his 20-year career. Tanana had spent his previous 19 major league seasons in the American League.