NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Umpires Get It Right, but It Takes a While

Replacement umpires replaced an incorrect call with a correct one Thursday in Cincinnati as the Chicago Cubs scored a 6-5 victory to complete a two-game sweep of the Reds.

Jose Hernandez singled home two runs in the 11th inning for the Cubs in a strange game.

“There were a lot of funny plays out there,” Cub Manager Jim Riggleman said.

Two stood out.

The first was the reversal, which came with the Cubs leading, 4-3, in the bottom of the sixth inning. Hal Morris was on third base with two out when Bret Boone grounded to shortstop Shawon Dunston.

The throw to first bounced and Mark Grace bobbled it as Morris crossed the plate. First-base umpire Bob Hernandez called Boone out.

Morris and Cincinnati Manager Davey Johnson disputed the call, and Hernandez consulted home plate umpire Larry Randall. The call was reversed, leaving Boone safe and the score tied.

It was the right call.

“I bobbled the ball,” Grace said. “The Reds deserved the run. I tried to fake it as much as possible.”

Hernandez, a defensive replacement at third base, nearly gave the game away when Reggie Sanders grounded to him with runners on second and third and two out in the 10th inning. Hernandez looked to second base for a force play, realized there was no force there, then gunned the ball to Grace at first base to get Sanders.

Atlanta 6, San Francisco 4--David Justice homered for the second day in a row, and this time his three-run shot off Dave Burba (0-1) in the eighth inning broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Braves a victory and two-game sweep of the Giants in Atlanta.

Mike Stanton (1-0) struck out pinch-hitter Todd Benzinger with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning and earn the victory.

Colorado 8, New York 7--Walt Weiss singled home the winning run with two out in the ninth inning at Denver, where the Rockies came back from a 5-0 deficit to beat the Mets and reliever Kevin Lomon (0-1), who was making his major league debut.

San Diego 13, Houston 1--Bip Roberts had four hits and Tony Gwynn homered in the Padres’ victory at San Diego. Three Houston errors led to five unearned runs.

Montreal 2, Pittsburgh 1--Pedro Martinez (1-0) extended his scoreless streak in Pittsburgh to 16 1/3 innings, and right fielder Moises Alou threw out Jeff King at the plate in the seventh inning after a medium-length fly ball to save the Expo victory.

Philadelphia 6, St. Louis 2--Darren Daulton drove in three runs and Dave Hollins had three hits and an RBI for the Phillies, who got 2 2/3 innings of strong relief pitching from rookie Ricky Bottalico to win in St. Louis and sweep the two-game set.