NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Rookie Torres Pitches In for the Giants

Salomon Torres gave the San Francisco Giants’ beleaguered pitching staff a boost Sunday with his performance in his first major league start.

Torres, 21, gave up five hits and and two walks in seven innings as the Giants beat the Florida Marlins, 9-3, at Miami. The victory kept the first-place Giants four games ahead of Atlanta in the National League West.

The Giants begin a three-game series at Atlanta on Tuesday.

Torres, who started the season with double-A Shreveport, struck out six. The Giants backed him with 15 hits, including home runs by Todd Benzinger and Robby Thompson.

Benzinger put the Giants ahead, 4-0, in the third inning with his second homer after singles by Matt Williams and Barry Bonds. Thompson led off the sixth inning with his 17th homer.

Kirt Manwaring, who began the game in a two-for-36 slump, had two hits for the Giants. Willie McGee and Royce Clayton each had a two-run double.

Florida’s Chris Hammond (10-9) gave up 10 hits and six runs in 3 1/3 innings.

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Atlanta 8, Chicago 2--David Justice hit a two-run home run, his fifth in five games, and Ron Gant drove in three runs with two singles to lead the Braves at Atlanta.

The victory was the Braves’ 16th in 19 games.

Tom Glavine (16-5) gave up seven hits and walked five in seven innings. He was helped by three double plays as he won for the sixth time in seven decisions.

The Braves turned the three double plays in the first four innings as Glavine struggled with his control.

The Braves scored four runs in the fourth inning against Greg Hibbard (10-11). Gant had a two-run single and Justice hit a two-run homer, his 34th.

The Braves added three runs in the fifth on Jeff Blauser’s run-scoring triple, Gant’s run-scoring single and an error by right fielder Glenallen Hill.

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Pittsburgh 7-0, San Diego 4-11--Doug Brocail (3-10) ended a personal seven-game losing streak that lasted two months, pitching seven shutout innings as the Padres split at Pittsburgh.

Bob Walk (12-12) ended a four-game losing streak for the Pirates in the opener.

Phil Plantier hit his second three-run homer of the day, Jarvis Brown had three hits and Billy Bean drove in three runs in the second game as the Padres won for the sixth time in seven games. Brown and Bean each had run-scoring singles during the third inning against rookie John Hope (0-1), who gave up three runs and five hits in five innings.

Plantier finished a six-run ninth with his homer, giving him 18 RBIs and five homers in his last six games.

Brocail struck out five, walked none and retired 12 consecutive batters after Jay Bell’s two-out single in the third. All four of the Pirates’ hits were singles.

Trevor Hoffman and Mark Davis finished the combined six-hitter, with Davis--the 1989 National League Cy Young Award winner--pitching the final 1 1/3 innings for his fourth save in six opportunities since rejoining the Padres.

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Montreal 3, Houston 2--Marquis Grissom hit a three-run homer and Ken Hill gave up five hits in seven innings as the Expos completed a three-game sweep at Montreal.

Hill (8-5) struck out five and walked three for his second victory in 13 starts since May 26. The right-hander had not won since July 22.

John Wetteland pitched two innings for his 31st save.

Grissom hit a two-out full-count pitch from Greg Swindell (10-10) in the fifth for his 14th homer, extending his hitting streak to 13 games.

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Philadelphia 12, Cincinnati 0--Danny Jackson pitched seven innings and Mickey Morandini and Wes Chamberlain each drove in four runs at Philadelphia.

Jackson (11-9), who has not given up more than two earned runs in his last eight starts, gave up five hits, struck out eight and walked one. Roger Mason pitched two hitless innings.

Tim Pugh (8-13) gave up five runs and seven hits in 1 1/3 innings.

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Colorado 6, New York 1--Lance Painter pitched a five-hitter at New York for his first major league victory.

Painter (1-2), who had an 11.05 earned-run average in his three previous starts before being sent to the minors, struck out two and walked none. He was the Rockies’ fourth pick in the second round of the expansion draft.

Frank Tanana (7-12) lost for the fifth time in seven starts.