NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Expos Hold Off Giants as Hill Wins No. 12

Five Montreal home runs almost weren’t enough to hold off the San Francisco Giants on a day when the ball was jumping out of Candlestick Park and the Expos were involved in yet another brawl.

Lenny Webster’s three-run shot in the seventh inning was the biggest blow, but Montreal needed John Wetteland’s 1 2/3 innings of relief to seal a 10-9 victory Saturday.

Wil Cordero, Mike Lansing, Sean Berry and Moises Alou also homered to help Ken Hill become the National League’s first 12-game winner.

The homers, however, were almost lost in the scuffle after an eighth-inning brawl that resulted in the ejection of Expo reliever Mel Rojas and Giant bullpen coach Bob Brenly. One pitch after John Patterson made the score 10-8 with a two-run homer, Rojas hit Barry Bonds with a pitch.

Bonds walked slowly toward the mound, yelling at Rojas. Brenly then blindsided the Expo pitcher as both dugouts emptied. Order was quickly restored, but not before Rojas punched Brenly in the face, cutting his forehead.

Atlanta 5, Florida 0--Greg Maddux pitched seven shutout innings and Fred McGriff homered and drove in two runs, lifting the Braves to victory at Miami.

Maddux (11-4), who lost his previous two decisions, gave up four hits as his earned-run average fell to 1.79. He threw only 85 pitches and only one Marlin reached third base.

McGriff’s 21st homer, against Terry Mathews (1-1), gave the Braves the lead in the second inning. McGriff, who went three for four, is eight for 14 in the series with two home runs, three RBIs and four runs scored.

Cincinnati 8, Pittsburgh 2--Reggie Sanders and Tony Fernandez had four hits each and Cincinnati continued to give Erik Hanson plenty of support in Pittsburgh.

Hal Morris went two for three with two walks to give him a .407 average and 14 RBIs in six games against Pittsburgh.

Hanson (5-5), who has watched the Reds outscore the Pirates by 27-9 in his two starts in Pittsburgh this season, including a 19-7 victory on April 28, later added a run-scoring single that made the score 6-1.

Houston 5, Chicago 4--Craig Biggio’s single off the left field wall drove in Andy Stankiewicz in the ninth inning for the winning run at Houston.

Stankiewicz led off the ninth with a walk, and one out later he moved to third on a single by Brian Hunter, who was tagged out in a rundown. Biggio followed with his winning hit against Chuck Crim (3-2).

Colorado 7, St. Louis 5--Pinch-hitter Dante Bichette hit a three-run homer and Andres Galarraga singled in the go-ahead run in the Rockies’ five-run seventh inning at St. Louis.

The loss stopped the Cardinals’ winning streak at five and ended the Rockies’ four-game losing streak. The Cardinals were leading, 5-2, when Rich Rodriguez (2-3) started the seventh inning in relief of starter Bob Tewksbury.

Mike Munoz (4-2) pitched a scoreless sixth to earn the victory. Bruce Ruffin gained his 12th save.

San Diego 4, New York 1--Andy Ashby pitched a four-hitter and Tony Gwynn went three for four with three RBIs for Padres at San Diego.

Ashby (4-6), who tied a career high with nine strikeouts, lowered his ERA to 2.82, third best in the National League. He has pitched four complete games in his last seven starts after failing to go the distance in his first 48 major league starts.

Ashby, trying for his first career shutout, lost it with two out in the ninth when Rico Brogna hit his third homer in three games.