NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Gant Leads Reds’ Breakthrough

After seven games, a week of sleepless nights and what seemed like a season’s worth of bad luck and bad pitching, the Reds won a game Wednesday, in part by taking advantage of a former Cincinnati Nasty Boy whose pitching isn’t quite as nasty as it used to be.

Ron Gant homered off David West and singled off Ricky Bottalico after Norm Charlton (0-2) had loaded the bases in a 7-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Cincinnati.

There was a general sigh of relief after the Reds’ longest season-opening losing streak since 1950 ended at six games.

“I can honestly say that was the toughest week I’ve ever spent managing a ballclub, especially a fine ballclub,” Davey Johnson said. “It didn’t come easy and it wasn’t very pretty, but it’s great to have.”

The relief was evident everywhere in Riverfront Stadium.

“That was a long 266 days without a win, I’ll tell you that,” General Manager Jim Bowden said.

In the seventh inning, Charlton had misplayed Deion Sanders’ bunt and walked two batters to load the bases for Gant.

“It feels like a ton of weight off our shoulders,” Gant said. “We can relax now and not press.”

Montreal 3, New York 1--Pedro Martinez (2-0) matched the high for his career with 10 strikeouts at Montreal, and he ran his lifetime record against the Mets to 5-0.

Tony Tarasco scored the Expos’ first run on Wil Cordero’s triple and knocked in the last run with a single.

Martinez surrendered Jeff Kent’s second-inning homer, but allowed only four hits over seven innings before leaving for a pinch hitter. Still apparently strong, he struck out the side in the seventh.

Atlanta 6, Florida 4--Fred McGriff drove in two runs at Miami, where the Braves’ first four runs were scored by players who had walked.

Tom Glavine (1-0) gave up two runs in the first inning but settled down and pitched 5 2/3 innings for the victory. Rookie Brad Clontz pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his third save.

The Marlins have lost six of seven, including two in a row to Atlanta, in which Marlin pitchers have walked 16 Braves and hit three batters.

Colorado 12, San Diego 7--Joe Girardi tied a club record with six runs batted in at Denver, and the Rockies rallied from five runs behind to finish their second series sweep of the season, running their record to a franchise-best 7-1.

Trailing, 5-0, Colorado scored five runs in the fourth inning off Joey Hamilton (0-1), with the help of three San Diego errors, then went ahead in the fifth on Girardi’s first homer of the season.

St. Louis 8, Pittsburgh 6--Pitcher Allen Watson (1-0) drove in two runs at St. Louis as the Cardinals opened a 7-0 lead against rookie Esteban Loaiza (1-1).

Houston 11, Chicago 2--Darryl Kile, a late replacement for starting pitcher Shane Reynolds, who came down with flu, allowed three hits in six shutout innings and doubled in two runs for the Astros at Chicago.

Houston also got home runs from Luis Gonzalez, Craig Biggio and Craig Shipley.