Cardinals Get Unexpected Help and Defeat Braves, 3-2

St. Louis has scored first in all five of its games, but more important, has scored last in its last two.

The second was Saturday night in Atlanta, where the Cardinals got a boost from Miguel Mejia, who had never played above Class A until this season. Mejia scored the winning run in the 12th inning of a 3-2 victory at Atlanta.

“We’re establishing for ourselves that we can compete,” said Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa. “Come hell or high water, I think we can compete.”

The Cardinals did twice in a row in Atlanta, beating the defending World Series champions in extra innings in both games.

Pat Borders led off the 12th inning with a bloop single to right off loser Brad Clontz (0-1), and Mejia, pinch-running, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and stole third without even drawing a throw.

After Luis Alicea walked, Clayton hit a sinking line drive that David Justice caught at his knees. The Braves’ right fielder threw home, but catcher Javier Lopez could not hold onto the ball as Mejia scored.

Atlanta tried to rally in the bottom of the 12th when Marquis Grissom and Chipper Jones walked. But Fred McGriff took a called third strike from Jeff Parrett (1-0) to end the game.

Pittsburgh 5, New York 0--Danny Darwin pitched six scoreless innings for the Pirates at New York, where they won for the fourth time in five games for their best start since 1983.

Darwin walked one and struck out three in his first start for Pittsburgh, which signed him to a free-agent contract in January and is his sixth major league team.

Jay Bell homered and tripled for the Pirates, who beat Mark Clark in his debut for the Mets after coming over in trade from Cleveland.

Florida 1, San Francisco 0--Terry Pendleton led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a home run that barely cleared the left field wall just inside the foul pole in Miami.

Pendleton’s opposite-field homer came on a two-and-two pitch from reliever Mark Dewey (0-1).

The first eight innings featured a pitchers’ duel between the Giants’ Mark Leiter and Florida’s Kevin Brown. At one point, Leiter had retired 13 in a row and Brown 11.

Colorado 5, Montreal--Vinny Castilla hit his first grand slam and Andres Galarraga also homered for the Rockies, who took a five-run lead and hung on to win at Montreal.

Castilla swung and missed a high fastball from Expo starter Kirk Rueter with the bases loaded in the first inning. Castilla didn’t miss the next one, sending it deep to left field.

Mark Thompson (1-0), making his 1996 debut in place of injured Billy Swift, gave up one run and four hits in six innings.

Cincinnati 8, Philadelphia 4--Reggie Sanders, Ed Taubensee and Mike Kelly homered during a four-run fifth inning for the Reds, helping Roger Salkeld get his first National League win at Philadelphia.

Rookie Willie Greene added a two-run homer to help Salkeld win his first NL appearance.

Salkeld, from Saugus, gave up three runs and six hits in five innings and also walked six.

Padres 8, Astros 4--Ken Caminiti hit his third career grand slam in the 13th inning at Houston to give the Padres their third victory.

Trevor Hoffman (1-1) pitched three hitless innings for the win. Mark Small (0-1) took the loss.

Tony Gwynn continued his torrid start by going three for five.