NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Braves Wildly Surrender Winning Streak

The Pittsburgh Pirates only wish they could have beaten the Atlanta Braves like this when it counted--in the 1991 and 1992 National League playoffs.

John Smoltz’s second wild pitch of the sixth inning led to both Pittsburgh runs scoring on the same play and the Pirates stopped the Atlanta Braves’ nine-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory Wednesday at Pittsburgh in a makeup game necessitated by the strike.

Steve Parris (2-2), who gave up 11 runs in 8 1/3 innings in his two most recent appearances, yielded five hits in seven innings.

Parris struck out a team season-high nine and possibly avoided a return trip to the minors. The right-hander had an 8.15 earned-run average after his first four starts.

“I used the All-Star break to re-start my season,” Parris said. “I had to stop trying to prove to everybody else I could pitch up here and prove it to myself. I pretended this was my debut.”

The Braves’ John Smoltz (7-5) sailed through the first five innings before Orlando Merced doubled with one out in the sixth. Smoltz hit Mark Johnson on the next pitch, and, with Jeff King batting, both runners advanced on a wild pitch. King then struck out.

Smoltz’s first pitch to Al Martin was in the dirt and got by catcher Javier Lopez and rolled to the right of the plate. Lopez had a play on Merced, but his throw eluded Smoltz and sailed into the Braves’ dugout, enabling both runners to score.

St. Louis 4, Philadelphia 3--Ray Lankford drove in two runs during a four-run sixth inning at Philadelphia as the Cardinals handed the Phillies their fifth consecutive loss.

It was the Phillies’ ninth loss in the last 10 games.

Danny Jackson won his second consecutive game after losing his first nine. Jackson yielded all three Philadelphia runs and nine hits, while striking out one and walking two in five innings. Tom Henke pitched the ninth to get his 18th save in 18 opportunities.

Michael Mimbs (6-5) lost his fourth in a row.

After Dave Hollins’ solo home run and RBI singles by Mariano Duncan and Darren Daulton, the Cardinals rallied in the sixth. Geronimo Pena led off with a single and Allen Battle walked. Brian Jordan singled to load the bases and Lankford followed with his two-run single, Jordan moving to third.

Darnell Coles then grounded to third, but second baseman Duncan dropped Charlie Hayes’ throw as Jordan scored. A sacrifice fly by Tripp Cromer scored the fourth run of the inning.

Montreal 3, Chicago 2--Darrin Fletcher drove in two runs at Montreal and rookie Ugueth Urbina won his first major league start to help the Expos snap a five-game losing streak.

The loss ended Chicago’s four-game winning streak.

With the score tied 1-1 in the seventh, Wil Cordero hit a two-out double and scored when Fletcher singled, chasing Frank Castillo (6-5).

The Expos added a run when Tim Spehr, pinch-running for Fletcher, took second on a groundout and scored when Luis Gonzalez misplayed a short fly by Sean Berry.