NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Astros Get a Workout, Then Beat the Cubs, 9-3

Apparently, a little extra exercise didn’t tire out the Houston Astros on Thursday night in Chicago.

They had to walk the final two blocks to Wrigley Field after a car ran a red light and struck their team bus. No one was injured in the collision.

The Astros had 17 hits and turned five double plays as they beat the Cubs, 9-3, for their sixth consecutive victory.

Craig Biggio had four hits against the Cubs for the third time this season and drove in three runs. Steve Finley and Scott Servais added three hits apiece for Houston.

“It’s just one of those things. You don’t figure it out. It just happens sometimes and I’ve been lucky,” Biggio said.

“I can’t remember an offense as good as this one since I’ve been here, as a unit,” added Biggio, whose four-hit game was his second in five days.

The Astros (49-36) are 13 games over .500 for the first time since Aug. 21, 1989. The Cubs, meanwhile, fell to a season-low 15 games under. They haven’t been that far under .500 since July 1990, when they were 16 games under.

Darryl Kile (6-3) beat the Cubs for the first time in his career after three losses. He gave up seven hits in six innings but was backed by four double plays in the first five innings.

Servais homered to give the Astros a 3-1 lead in the fourth, and consecutive doubles by Caminiti and Kevin Bass in the fifth made it 4-1. Gonzalez had another run-scoring single for a four-run lead.

Finley tripled for his third hit to give the Astros a 6-1 lead in the sixth.

“I guess that’s why they have five guys on the All-Star team,” Cub Manager Tom Trebelhorn said. “We haven’t gotten whacked like this in a while.”

Montreal 7, San Diego 0--Ken Hill pitched a five-hitter at San Diego to win his 13th game and join Jimmy Key of the New York Yankees for the most wins in the majors.

Darrin Fletcher, who hit a two-run homer in the ninth to give the Expos a 4-2 victory over the Dodgers, hit a three-run homer in the first inning to give Hill (13-3) all the support he would need.

Cliff Floyd hit a two-run double as the Expos pounded Andy Ashby, who began the game with a 2.81 earned-run average, the third-lowest in the National League.

Ashby (4-7) yielded six runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings, matching his shortest outing of the season.

Cincinnati 8, Pittsburgh 7--Kevin Mitchell singled home the winning run with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Reds their 25th come-from-behind victory of the season.

Carlos Garcia and Jay Bell singled home runs in the top of the 10th to give the Pirates a 7-5 lead, but Hal Morris hit a two-run homer against Blas Minor to tie the score.

Minor walked Jacob Brumfield to open the 11th and Tony Fernandez sacrificed. Barry Larkin walked and Mitchell followed with a single just inside the third-base line.

Colorado 2, Florida 1--David Nied pitched a seven-hitter and Andres Galarraga hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning at Joe Robbie Stadium.

The victory was the Rockies’ fourth in a row, equaling their longest of the year. Florida has lost five of six.

Nied (8-4) retired the last nine batters as he won his third consecutive decision.

Marlin shortstop Kurt Abbott dropped Eric Young’s high-hopper for an error to start Colorado’s rally in the eighth. Walt Weiss walked, and after an out, Galarraga singled to drive home the unearned run.