NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : After Two Strikeouts, Justice Gets In Swing

David Justice turned an off night into a game-winning one Monday with a 431-foot, two-run home run in the sixth inning that carried the Atlanta Braves to their third victory in a row, 4-3, over the Montreal Expos at Atlanta.

“I had just struck out twice,” Justice said. “I was just trying to get a pitch I could see. I was not thinking about a home run. Fortunately, I hit it well.”

The Braves overcame a 3-0 deficit in winning for the 10th time in 13 games and handing the Expos their 10th loss in 12 games after a 46-minute rain delay to start the game.

Ryan Klesko also homered for the Braves and Tom Glavine (6-4) beat the Expos for only the seventh time in 18 career decisions.

“We’ve seen him [Glavine] a lot better than that, but he’s a great pitcher,” Expos Manager Felipe Alou said. “He won the game. We knew he didn’t have his best stuff and he was high in the pitch count. We knew he wouldn’t go nine.”

The Braves rallied off reliever Luis Aquino (0-2), who yielded a one-out double to Fred McGriff before Justice hit the next pitch over the center-field fence. Klesko hit his seventh homer over the right-field fence in the fifth off starter Gil Heredia.

Houston 11, St. Louis 0--Greg Swindell pitched a six-hit shutout and rookie Orlando Miller drove in a career-high five runs with three hits as the Astros scored 10 runs in the first two innings at Houston.

Swindell (5-3), who got his first shutout since Oct. 1, 1993, gave up only seven baserunners. He struck out five and walked one. Only three St. Louis runners made it as far as second base.

The Astros scored nine runs on five hits in 1 1/3 innings against St. Louis starter Mark Petkovsek (3-2). Houston had 14 hits, getting at least one from every starter except Phil Nevin and Jeff Bagwell.

The Astros scored six runs in the first on Luis Gonzalez’s two-run single, Tony Eusebio’s run-scoring double and Miller’s three-run homer, his third.

Florida 9, New York 4--Jeff Conine’s two-run home run sparked a five-run sixth inning, lifting the Marlins at Florida.

Bobby Bonilla’s two-run home run in the first and run-scoring single in the fourth gave starter Bobby Jones (4-5) and the Mets a 3-2 lead. Bonilla also hit a solo homer, his 11th, in the ninth.

The Marlins took the lead in the sixth when Conine hit his 11th homer of the season. It was Conine’s first at Joe Robbie Stadium since April 26. His last eight homers have come on the road, including five in the last 10 games of the road trip.

“It’s especially good to win at home where maybe we can start a trend,” said Conine, who had three hits and scored three runs. “The fans were starting to wonder what the heck is wrong. We’d win on the road and come home and lose. This whole team is confident, and we’re having fun.”

Pittsburgh 8, Chicago 6--Carlos Garcia had three hits at Chicago, including a homer, and extended his hitting streak to 20 games, to help the Pirates drop the Cubs to .500 for the first time this season.

Garcia also doubled and singled and is hitting .365 during his streak. Al Martin had three hits and three runs batted in as the Pirates had a season-high 16 hits.

Steve Parris (1-0) got his first major league victory in his second big league start, allowing six hits over 5 2/3 innings, including two homers. Dan Miceli pitched the ninth for his 10th save.