NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Padres Finally Win in Montreal

Part of the process of trying to rebuild the San Diego Padres involves exorcising a few demons.

Take the one that resides in Montreal.

The Padres had lost 14 games in a row in Olympic Stadium, their last victory coming on July 19, 1992.

Actually, it’s a portable demon. San Diego had not beaten Montreal anywhere since July 24, 1993.

Until Thursday night in Montreal.

Ken Caminiti hit a two-run homer and Scott Sanders allowed two hits in 7 1/3 innings as the Padres ended a 15-game losing streak against the Expos, 4-3.

The Expos rallied for three runs in the eighth inning to make Padre Manager Bruce Bochy wonder about this demons business.

“If we would have lost this one, I think I would have jumped out of a plane,” he said. “It didn’t come easy.”

Sanders (3-0) allowed only a first-inning single by Henry Rodriguez and an eighth-inning double by Tim Laker.

“I wanted to end this streak,” Sanders said. “It’s been a long time.”

Cincinnati 6, Chicago 2--Eddie Taubensee drove in two runs, Reggie Sanders homered and the Reds got help from two errors to win at Chicago, where the Cubs are only 4-5. They are 13-4 on the road.

Cincinnati won for the 14th time in 17 games as John Smiley (2-0) allowed eight hits in 7 2/3 innings and Xavier Hernandez finished for his second save.

The Reds took a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning with two runs off Mike Morgan (0-1), who was activated before the game after being on the disabled list because of shoulder problems.

Pittsburgh 3, Florida 1--Orlando Merced doubled in Jay Bell to break an eighth-inning tie as the Pirates won at home for only the second time in 10 games.

Bell opened the inning with a double off Bobby Witt (1-3) and scored despite falling after stumbling in the mud around third base.

St. Louis 4, Atlanta 1--Ken Hill kept the Braves’ hitters in the park in St. Louis, cutting off their consecutive-games home run streak at nine. Hill (3-0) also allowed six hits in 6 2/3 innings for the Cardinals, who responded to a pregame lecture from Manager Joe Torre to win for only the third time in their last 10 games.

San Francisco 3, Philadelphia 1--Mark Leiter scattered four hits over 5 2/3 innings as the Giants won in Philadelphia in a game called in the bottom of the sixth after a 2-hour 49-minute rain delay.

Leiter (2-1) gave up a solo homer to Dave Gallagher.

The Giants ended their three-game losing streak and the Phillies’ four-game winning streak.