NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Giants Recover, Pound Phillies

The San Francisco Giants are proving adept at bouncing back from a tough loss.

After losing, 4-3, in the 12th inning Tuesday, they punished pitchers Danny Jackson and Bob Ayrault with a three-run fourth inning and seven-run fifth Wednesday. The result was an 11-2 victory at San Francisco that was highlighted by Barry Bonds’ four-for-four performance and Royce Clayton’s five runs batted in.

The Giants did the same thing at Philadelphia last month, bouncing back after blowing an eight-run lead in 10 innings to lose, 9-8, then defeating the Phillies, 6-3, the next day.

“We try to let it roll off us, like water rolls off ducks or something,” Manager Dusty Baker said. “We try to just forget it and come back tomorrow. We just tacked (runs) on because we remembered what happened in Philly. You can never have too many runs.”

The Giants seem to have a chance to score plenty of runs in every game, because Bonds is carrying his outstanding April performance into May. He knocked in a run and had two doubles Wednesday, boosting his league-leading average to .432.

He also leads the league with 29 RBIs and 11 doubles.

Every San Francisco starter but one got at least one hit in a matchup of division leaders.

Billy Swift (3-1) pitched seven innings for the victory. He gave up eight hits, struck out four and walked two.

Houston 6, St. Louis 3--Craig Biggio continued his hot hitting, going four for four with a homer while leading the Astros at St. Louis.

Biggio has a six-game hitting streak in which he has batted .619 (13 for 21). He has hit in 13 of 14 games, averaging .423 (22 for 52) during that time.

Biggio’s four-hit game tied a high for his career he has accomplished four times.

Mark Portugal (3-2) gave up five hits and two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings for the Astros. Doug Jones pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.

Montreal 6, San Diego 5--Larry Walker’s second RBI double of the game scored Marquis Grissom with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning at Montreal.

Grissom hit a one-out single and scored all the way from first base on Walker’s double to the left-field corner off Rich Rodriguez (1-1).

John Wetteland (1-0) retired all four batters he faced.

Montreal starter Ken Hill was charged with five runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Cincinnati 6, Florida 2--Tom Browning continued his comeback from knee surgery by pitching six strong innings at Miami.

Reggie Sanders and Bobby Kelly had solo homers for the Reds, who took advantage of wildness by Ryan Bowen (2-3) to score four runs in the fourth inning.

Browning (2-2), who sustained a season-ending knee injury last July 1, turned in his second consecutive strong start and lowered his earned-run average from 9.64 to 7.65. He gave up six hits and two earned runs, walking two.

Pittsburgh 4, Atlanta 1--Jeff King drove in three runs and Bob Walk continued to frustrate the Braves, pitching one-run ball over seven innings and adding a key double at Pittsburgh.

Walk (3-2), who had lost his last two starts, was nearly as effective as he was in beating the Braves, 7-1, in Game 5 of the National League playoffs last October. He gave up seven hits, but benefited from three double plays and a disputed play to catch David Justice off first base on a play that may have prevented a big fourth inning for Atlanta.

With the Braves leading, 1-0, Justice debated trying to stretch a liner into right field into a double before returning to first. He barely beat Orlando Merced’s throw, but was called out by umpire Gary Darling when first baseman Kevin Young tagged him as he momentarily lifted a foot off the base.

Terry Pendleton followed with a double and Sid Bream singled, but Damon Berryhill grounded into a double play.

Chicago 3, Colorado 2--Steve Buechele homered and Ryne Sandberg had two sacrifice flies to make up for his first throwing error in three years, leading the Cubs at Chicago.

Buechele homered in the fourth inning off Armando Reynoso (1-1) to break a 1-1 tie and put the Cubs ahead to stay.

Greg Hibbard (2-2) gave up five hits in eight innings for his first victory since April 12. Randy Myers pitched the ninth for his eighth save.

In the third, after Vinny Castilla singled, Reynoso grounded to Sandberg at second. Sandberg’s throw to shortstop Jose Vizcaino was wide--his first throwing error since July 4, 1990, a span covering 393 games and 1,298 chances.