NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Mets Lose 9-1 Lead, Win in 13th

After blowing a 9-1 lead, it seemed the New York Mets were about to add another woeful chapter to their 1993 season.

Instead, they got clutch hits from Jeromy Burnitz and Joe Orsulak in the 13th inning to pull out a 12-9 victory Thursday over the Expos at Montreal.

“I guess you could say it was a game of heroes and goats,” Met Manager Dallas Green said, “and it was full of both.”

The heroes were Burnitz--four hits, a grand slam, seven runs batted in--and Orsulak--a tiebreaking single against John Wetteland (7-2) in the 13th. Jeff Kent added a three-run homer.

Rookie Mike Draper (1-1), who had pitched only one inning since July 9, worked the 12th for his first major league victory, and Anthony Young got the final three outs for his second save as the Mets earned a split of the four-game series.

Kent went 10 for 16 in the series and capped a four-run first inning with a three-run homer, his 13th. Burnitz’s sixth homer highlighted a five-run fifth and gave Met starter Eric Hillman an eight-run lead.

“It’s mind-boggling to think that you could mess up a 9-1 lead, but we did it,” Green said. “All in all, you’ve got to be pleased with the outcome, but there were an awful lot of mistakes out there that I’m not happy about.”

Montreal scored four runs in the fifth to knock out Hillman and tied the game on five consecutive hits to open the sixth. Mike Lansing keyed the comeback with a two-run double against Jeff Innis and scored the tying run on a single by Marquis Grissom.

Philadelphia 10, Atlanta 4--Dave Hollins drove in four runs, including the go-ahead run in the fifth inning, as the Phillies rebounded from a 4-0 deficit at Atlanta.

Philadelphia starter Ben Rivera (10-6) ended a three-game losing streak. He gave up eight hits, walked five and struck out two in 7 2/3 innings.

Greg Maddux (12-9), who had won five in a row entering the game, was victimized by three errors leading to four unearned runs.

San Francisco 5, San Diego 3--Will Clark homered in consecutive at-bats, and Bill Swift tied teammate John Burkett for the league lead with his 16th victory as the Giants won at San Diego.

Dave Martinez and Matt Williams also homered for the Giants. There were 15 homers in the three-game series--seven by San Francisco and eight by San Diego.

Swift (16-5) gave up three runs and seven hits in eight innings, striking out three and walking one. Rod Beck pitched the ninth for his 32nd save, a day after a blown save ended his National League record streak at 24.

St. Louis 16, Florida 6--Brian Jordan led a season-high 19-hit barrage with four hits, including his sixth home run, to lead the Cardinals at St. Louis.

Tom Pagnozzi, Todd Zeile and Bernard Gilkey had three hits each for the Cardinals.

St. Louis batted around in both the fourth and fifth innings, scoring nine runs to blow the game open.

Zeile, who has hit safely in 30 of his last 33 games to raise his average to .287, reached base five times and scored four runs. Pagnozzi and Gilkey both had three RBIs, and Luis Alicea scored three runs.

Rene Arocha (9-3) was the beneficiary of the offensive attack. He gave up 11 hits while striking out three in the first complete game of his career.

Cincinnati 11, Colorado 4--The Rockies bumbled their way to their 11th consecutive defeat, leaving them with the major leagues’ longest losing streak of the season.

The Rockies’ offense was futile against Jose Rijo (10-5), who gave up six hits in seven innings to improve to 4-0 since the All-Star break.

Starter Kent Bottenfield (3-8) gave up 11 hits and 11 runs in four-plus innings. Joe Oliver drove in five runs with a pair of doubles as the Reds improved to 7-0 against the Rockies at Riverfront Stadium.

Pittsburgh 5, Chicago 2--Orlando Merced, who hit a game-winning homer Wednesday, drove in two runs and Randy Tomlin gave up five hits over eight innings, leading the Pirates at Chicago.

Tomlin (4-8), who has walked only 11 batters in 81 1/3 innings this season, had three strikeouts and no walks. Mark Dewey pitched the ninth for his first save.

Mike Morgan (7-11) gave up four runs and eight hits in five innings. He walked three, struck out four and had a wild pitch.