NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Gilkey and Mabry Lead Cardinals Past Rockies

The St. Louis Cardinals, 19 games under .500, got a leadoff homer from Bernard Gilkey and four hits and three RBIs from John Mabry Friday night to beat the Colorado Rockies, 8-3, at Denver.

David Bell also had two hits, including a game-breaking triple to help Mike Morgan (5-7) get his 100th career victory and his second against Colorado this year.

“Wins have been hard to come by for Mike Morgan my whole career,” Morgan said while holding a glass of champagne. “I’ve never been the kind of guy that worries about how many I win. I’ve been the kind of guy that worries about how many the team wins when I pitch.”

Morgan, who has pitched for eight teams in the 17 years, gave up three runs--one earned--on five hits in five innings.

Atlanta 7, Chicago 3--John Smoltz is a major reason the Braves have the best record in the National League. Smoltz, who hasn’t lost since mid-July, gave up three runs in six-plus innings at Chicago as the Braves won their fifth consecutive game.

Smoltz (10-5) struck out six, raising his season total to 150, second in the National League to Hideo Nomo. The Braves’ right-hander has not lost since July 12, going 3-0 with five no-decisions.

New York 10, San Diego 5--Carl Everett hit the first grand slam of his career and Butch Huskey added a two-run homer, all in the fifth inning at New York, to lead the Mets to their seventh victory in eight games.

The Mets connected for 14 hits off four Padre pitchers and sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth.

Florida 5, Houston 4--Andre Dawson hit a tiebreaking three-run homer to help extend a club record with the Marlins’ 11th consecutive home victory. It came after a 2-9 road trip.

The Astros have lost eight in a row, their longest losing streak since 1983, when they began the season 0-9.

John Burkett (11-11) gave up three earned runs and nine hits in seven innings.

Cincinnati 19, Pittsburgh 3--Reggie Sanders made sure the Reds didn’t miss the injured Ron Gant by hitting a pair of two-run homers and driving in six runs at Pittsburgh. Gant missed his ninth game of the season with strained rib cage muscles.

Montreal 12, San Francisco 1--Sean Berry homered twice at Montreal and matched his career high with six RBIs as the Expos ended a season-high six-game losing streak.