NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Braves Keep Rockies on a Slide

The slumping Colorado Rockies matched their longest skid of the season Friday with a 5-3 loss to the Braves at Atlanta.

The Rockies have lost five games in a row and are now tied with the Dodgers for the NL West lead.

“We knew this would be a tough road trip,” Colorado shortstop Walt Weiss said. “We caught Florida when they were hot. Now we’re here and we go to Cincinnati after this. I hope we can win a few games and stay on top.”

Atlanta, which owns the best record in the National League at 62-35, continued its mastery against the Rockies. It has won 28 of 31 games the past three years.

Steve Avery (5-8) gave up four hits in eight innings and struck out eight for his first victory since July 8.

Charlie O’Brien and Chipper Jones homered for the Braves. Joe Girardi and Ellis Burks homered for the Rockies, but Eric Young went 0 for 4 and had his 19-game hitting streak stopped.

O’Brien hit a three-run homer off Armando Reynoso (4-4) during a four-run fourth.

Florida 6, Cincinnati 2--Jeff Conine and Kurt Abbott each hit home runs as the Marlins won their fourth game in a row at Miami.

Pat Rapp gave up five hits in seven innings to improve his record to 6-7.

Conine, the All-Star game MVP, hit his career-high 19th home run. His solo shot off reliever Xavier Hernandez gave Florida a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning.

Philadelphia 6, Montreal 5--Home runs by Charlie Hayes and Tom Marsh helped the Phillies snap an eight-game losing streak at Philadelphia.

Mickey Morandini added two hits for the Phillies, including an RBI double in the sixth inning that made it 5-4.

Hayes’ solo homer in the fourth, his eighth, put Philadelphia ahead, 2-1. The Phillies went up, 4-3, in the fifth when Marsh hit a two-run blast.

Philadelphia added a run in the seventh when Gregg Jefferies scored on second baseman Mike Lansing’s error.

Chicago 6, San Francisco 2--Jim Bullinger won his fourth consecutive game but had his scoreless streak end at 25 innings at San Francisco.

Bullinger (10-2) came within four outs of matching the 26 1/3 scoreless innings Greg Maddux threw for the Cubs in 1990. Glenallen Hill broke the streak with an RBI double with two outs in the sixth.

New York 7, Houston 5--Rico Brogna tripled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning as the Mets won their sixth in a row and handed the Astros their sixth consecutive loss at Houston.

With the score tied at 5, Carl Everett led off the eighth with a double against Todd Jones (6-2). After Jeff Kent grounded out, Brogna bounced a triple off the wall in right-center and then scored on Chris Jones’ sacrifice fly.

Doug Henry (2-5) pitched two innings and John Franco worked the ninth for his 15th save.

San Diego 3-5, St. Louis 0-2--Steve Finley hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning as the Padres completed a doubleheader sweep and won their 14th consecutive home game against the Cardinals.

The Padres set a team record for most consecutive home victories against another team. The last time the Cardinals won at Jack Murphy Stadium was July 8, 1992.

Andy Ashby (8-6) pitched a five-hitter in the opener.