NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : It’s Homers Away for Reds, Who Rout Marlins

Kevin Mitchell led the way with two of Cincinnati’s five home runs as the Reds won their fifth consecutive game, 9-4, over the Florida Marlins at Miami on Tuesday.

Pete Schourek (4-1) pitched six scoreless innings, striking out four and scattering six hits, to hand the Marlins their fourth consecutive defeat.

Cincinnati jumped ahead, 2-0, in the first inning when Barry Larkin and Hal Morris hit back-to-back homers off Florida starter Charlie Hough (5-8).

Hough also allowed home runs in the second inning to Tony Fernandez and in the fourth to Mitchell.

Mitchell, who went three for four, played for the first time since fouling a pitch off his left foot in Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh. An X-ray showed a small chip fracture at the base of his foot.

Houston 3, St. Louis 1--Pete Harnisch and two relievers combined on a four-hitter and Steve Finley had a home run and two runs batted in at St. Louis.

Craig Biggio led off the game with his fifth home run for the Astros, who have won four in a row and six of seven. The Cardinals lost their fourth game in a row to fall to .500, eight games behind the NL Central-leading Cincinnati Reds, their largest deficit of the season.

Harnisch (4-4) won on the road for the first time this season.

Colorado 9, Chicago 6--Pinch-hitter Howard Johnson tied the game with a three-run, pinch-hit home run and Andres Galarraga hit his 23rd homer to cap a six-run seventh inning at Chicago.

The Cubs led, 5-2, when Joe Girardi singled and Vinny Castilla walked off Chuck Crim (3-3) before Johnson hit his 10th homer, fourth as a pinch-hitter.

Eric Young’s subsequent single produced thunderous boos for Crim and Cub Manager Tom Trebelhorn, who called in Dan Plesac from the bullpen.

Young stole second as Mike Kingery struck out and Dante Bichette punched a double into the right field corner for his 77th RBI to make it 6-5.

Galarraga then launched a towering two-run homer to left field that landed against a house across the street from Wrigley Field for an 8-5 lead.

New York 4, San Francisco 2--The Giants met their match in Bret Saberhagen and knew it.

The Mets’ only All-Star pitched six perfect innings before yielding a leadoff home run to Darren Lewis in the seventh at San Francisco.

The right-handed Saberhagen (9-4) worked eight innings, yielding only two hits and no walks, striking out eight.

“Saberhagen was great today,” Giants Manager Dusty Baker said. “He was hitting spots and throwing 94-96 (m.p.h.). You just hope he makes a mistake.”

It didn’t happen until Saberhagen hung a 2-and-2 breaking pitch to Lewis. The ball sailed over the left field fence for Lewis’ second homer--his first since April 23 against the Mets.

Pittsburgh 3, Atlanta 1--Jay Bell had a two-run triple for the Pirates in a game delayed three times for nearly four hours because of by rain at Atlanta before being called after 6 1/2 innings.

It was the opener of a scheduled doubleheader.

The Pirates beat the Braves for the sixth time in seven games this season. The second game was postponed because of inclement weather and was scheduled as a doubleheader today.

Bell had one of only two hits off John Smoltz (6-8), who went seven innings and gave up three runs.

San Diego 7, Philadelphia 2--Eddie Williams hit a grand slam with two out in the fifth inning off Bobby Munoz at San Diego.

Joey Hamilton (5-3) permitted six hits, one earned run, walked none and struck out three over seven innings. Luis Lopez and Scott Livingstone also homered for the Padres.

Munoz (4-3) gave up six runs, two of them earned, in six innings and his four-game winning streak was stopped.