NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Freeman Leads Rockies to Fifth Victory in a Row

Just when it appeared Marvin Freeman’s days as a starter were numbered, he did a number on the Montreal Expos.

Freeman, who hadn’t won in his previous five starts, pitched seven shutout innings Sunday as the Colorado Rockies posted their fifth consecutive victory, 4-1 over the Montreal Expos at Denver.

Dante Bichette and Larry Walker hit back-to-back solo home runs in the sixth inning. Eric Young and pinch-hitter John Vander Wal also had homers for the Rockies, who hit 20 in the seven-game homestand to help open a five-game lead in the West.

Freeman (3-6) limited the Expos to five hits through seven innings, striking out four and walking none. He retired 11 batters in a row at one point.

Colorado Manager Don Baylor hinted that Freeman’s starting status had become tenuous.

“I’m not saying Marvin was on the bubble,” Baylor said, “but it was time for him to step up and pitch well. That’s what we needed today.”

Atlanta 3, San Francisco 2--Fred McGriff kept the Braves’ July perfect with a three-run homer in the ninth inning at Atlanta.

Atlanta is 9-0 this month, equaling its longest winning streak since Aug. 18, 1993.

McGriff hit his 11th home run over the wall in left-center on a 1-2 pitch from Rod Beck (4-3). It followed a walk to Jeff Blauser and a single by Chipper Jones.

Chicago 7, Philadelphia 6--Todd Zeile’s sacrifice fly scored Brian McRae in the 13th inning at Philadelphia.

McRae, who was two for six with three runs scored, opened the 13th by reaching first on an error by first baseman Mariano Duncan. He moved to second on Rey Sanchez’s single and to third on Mark Grace’s sacrifice bunt before scoring on Zeile’s fly ball to center.

Turk Wendell (2-0), the seventh pitcher for Chicago, got the win while Mike Williams (0-2), the sixth Philadelphia pitcher, took the loss.

San Diego 9, Houston 2--Padre pitcher Andy Ashby continued his recent superb stretch of pitching and Eddie Williams contributed a grand slam at Houston.

At 6-5, this is the first time in Ashby’s major league career he has been above .500 this late in the season. He has won four of his last five starts and during that stretch, he has allowed only seven runs on 24 hits over a total of 41 1/3 innings.

The Padres jumped on Astro starter Darryl Kile early as Steve Finley led off with a walk, Jody Reed singled and Tony Gwynn followed with a three-run homer, his sixth home run of the season.

Florida 6, St. Louis 0--Mark Gardner pitched his first complete-game shutout in nearly five years and Tommy Gregg hit his first career grand slam.

Gardner, who replaced injured David Weathers in the rotation, allowed the Cardinals seven hits, no walks and struck out eight at St. Louis. His last complete game shutout came on July 12, 1990, as a member of the Montreal Expos.

Pittsburgh 6, New York 3--Center fielder Brett Butler’s misplay of Orlando Merced’s routine single scored the go-ahead run at Pittsburgh.

Esteban Loaiza (6-3) withstood his own early wildness and Todd Hundley’s solo homer to outpitch Bret Saberhagen (5-4). Loaiza has lowered his ERA from 9.15 on May 18 to 5.12.

The right-handed Loaiza overcame a shaky second inning that included Hundley’s 12th homer to settle down and give up only three more hits, all singles.