NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Strawberry Injured as Giants Win Again

Barry Bonds hit his fifth home run in four games and Darryl Strawberry delivered another big hit Monday night before suffering an injury as the San Francisco Giants won their ninth in a row, defeating the Phillies, 7-5, at Philadelphia.

The Giants are 9-0 since Strawberry joined them. He lined a two-run single off the right-field wall in the first inning, but had to leave after the top of the second with a tight left hamstring.

Strawberry is batting .367 (11 for 30) with nine RBIs since being promoted from the minors July 7. The Giants said the injury did not appear serious, and he was listed as day to day.

“I’m getting into baseball shape, but the legs are usually the last to come around,” Strawberry said. “Plus playing the last five games on artificial turf, I expected that to happen.”

Bonds, who has 12 hits in his last 23 at bats, got his 28th homer and 250th of his career to help the Giants take a 6-0 lead after two innings.

Bryan Hickerson, whose previous start July 6 was the last loss for the Giants, had a shutout into the sixth inning, when Pete Incaviglia hit a three-run homer for the Phillies.

Atlanta 3, Pittsburgh 2--Kent Mercker pitched a two-hitter at Pittsburgh and rookie Mike Kelly hit his first major league homer.

Mercker (8-2) rebounded from a two-run Pirate second inning to retire the last 18 batters for his fifth victory in his last six starts.

Pirate starter Steve Cooke (4-7) again failed to get much support despite limiting the Braves to three runs over seven innings. In 12 of 19 starts, Cooke has lasted at least six innings while giving up three earned runs or less, but is only 1-4 in those games.

Montreal 9, San Diego 2--The Expos beat the Padres for the 11th consecutive time, getting 15 hits at Montreal.

Marquis Grissom had two hits and scored twice for the Expos, who have outscored the Padres, 63-17, during the streak.

The Expos ended a four-game losing streak and extended their home winning streak to 10 over San Diego since July 19, 1992.

Cincinnati 5, Florida 3--Kevin Mitchell and Reggie Sanders hit consecutive home runs off Charlie Hough in the sixth at Miami, powering the Reds to victory.

The solo homers ended a tied score and led to Florida’s fourth consecutive loss.

Hough (5-9), who gave up four homers the last time he faced the Reds in a 9-4 loss July 5, has lost five consecutive decisions since shutting out St. Louis on June 14. The 46-year-old knuckleball specialist is 1-6 in his last 10 starts.

Chicago 6, Colorado 3--Jim Bullinger pitched a five-hitter and drove in three runs at Chicago.

Bullinger (4-2) doubled home two runs in the second inning and had a fourth-inning RBI single. The right-hander struck out two and walked two while ending the Rockies’ four-game winning streak.