NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : A Bad Quantrill Is Good Enough to Beat Expos

The index finger on his right finger was smarting, and he admitted he didn’t have very good stuff. So why was Paul Quantrill smiling?

Because, for the second time in three starts, he pitched well enough to get a victory, allowing the Phillies to extend their winning streak to six games by defeating the Montreal Expos, 8-3, Tuesday night at Philadelphia.

“I didn’t do anything very spectacular,” said Quantrill (2-0), who scattered nine hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings. “It’s just a matter of keeping them in the game with these guys. You know you’re going to get some runs.”

And hits. The Phillies had a season-high 15, Mickey Morandini going four for five.

The finger was the product of reflexes when Wil Cordero hit a liner up the middle that Quantrill tried to grab with his pitching hand. The ball bounded away for a single, and Quantrill had a tender finger--and not much stuff.

“I felt like I was in a gun fight with a slingshot,” he said. “I had nothing tonight.”

Chicago 3, St. Louis 0--Steve Trachsel (1-1) gave up three hits and struck out six in six innings in St. Louis, running his record on the road to 9-1. Trachsel is 1-9 in Wrigley Field in two seasons.

Randy Myers relieved with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth inning and retired Ray Lankford on a grounder. The Cardinals loaded the bases in the ninth before Myers got Darnell Coles on a grounder for his fifth save.

Donovan Osborne (0-1) retired the first nine batters before giving up a run on three hits and a walk in the fourth inning. He has not won since Aug. 18, 1993, sitting out last season because of a shoulder injury.

Houston 13, Pittsburgh 6--Shane Reynolds (1-1) ran his scoreless streak against the Pirates to 22 innings before tiring, and the Astros survived a five-run seventh inning to win at Pittsburgh.

Luis Gonzalez homered, doubled and drove in three runs, and Houston hit an NL record-tying four sacrifice flies in their seventh victory in nine games. The Pirates are 1-6 at home and have lost five of six overall.

Atlanta 3, New York 2--Chipper Jones led off the ninth inning at New York with his first major league home run, and the Braves ended a four-game losing streak.

The Mets, who lost their third in a row, tied it, 2-2, in the eighth inning when Jeff Kent hit a solo home run with two outs off Greg McMichael (2-0).

Cincinnati 9, Florida 1--Hal Morris had four hits and drove in three runs at Miami, where John Smiley (1-0) pitched six strong innings and doubled to start a six-run fifth.

Morris homered and doubled. Barry Larkin had two hits, extending his hitting streak to 12 games.

Colorado 10, San Francisco 6--Dante Bichette hit a grand slam in the first inning, and the Rockies overcame Matt Williams’ two homers in Denver.

Colorado ended a three-game losing streak and stopped the Giants’ four-game winning string.

The Rockies jumped on Trevor Wilson (2-1) for five runs in the first inning, another in the second and then chased him with three more in the third for a 9-0 lead.