NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Astros Win but Bagwell Breaks Hand

Jeff Bagwell, the unanimous National League MVP in 1994, broke his left hand when he was hit by a pitch from former teammate Brian Williams in the fourth inning of Houston’s 7-1 victory over the Padres on Sunday at San Diego. He’s expected to be sidelined three to four weeks.

“I can’t tell you how sad I am about this right now because we’re 3 1/2 games behind the Reds and we’re playing great baseball,” Bagwell said.

Not only was it the third season in a row that Bagwell has had his left hand broken, but it was the second time in less than a year that the same bone was fractured by a pitch from a San Diego player.

Bagwell was scheduled to return to Houston today to be examined by a team doctor.

Doug Drabek (7-5) won his third consecutive start. He gave up one run on six hits in six innings with one strikeout and no walks.

The Astros scored five in the seventh on four hits, two walks, an error, a passed ball and a wild pitch.

Montreal 11, Colorado 4--Pedro Martinez held Colorado hitless for 5 2/3 innings at Montreal.

Darrin Fletcher had a three-run double, Sean Berry had a two-run double and Tony Tarasco stole three bases and scored three runs.

Martinez (9-6) went six innings and gave up four runs on six hits and three walks with six strikeouts. He was relieved by Tim Scott after giving up three consecutive singles to start the seventh inning.

Eric Young ended Martinez’s no-hit bid with an RBI triple in the sixth that made the score 7-1. Martinez had faced the minimum 15 batters through five innings.

San Francisco 3, Atlanta 2--Making only his second start of the season, rookie Jamie Brewington held the Braves to four hits at San Francisco.

Brewington (2-0) won his major league debut last Monday at Florida, holding the Marlins to six hits and three runs.

Rod Beck came on to get the last two outs for his 17th save. Beck had blown four of his last five save opportunities.

Chicago 8, Philadelphia 0--Jim Bullinger pitched a three-hitter for his first shutout and Mark Grace drove in three at Chicago.

Bullinger (8-2) had a career-high eight strikeouts and gave up singles to Tom Marsh, Tony Longmire and Kevin Stocker.

New York 2, Pittsburgh 1--Rookie Jason Isringhausen scattered six hits over eight innings at New York to get his first major league victory. Isringhausen struck out five and walked three in his third start.

Florida 3, St. Louis 1--Greg Colbrunn’s two-out, two-run homer in the eighth inning rallied the Marlins past the Cardinals at Miami.

Florida came back after Bernard Gilkey’s RBI double in the top of the eighth scored the first run for the Cardinals in 34 innings.