Braves’ Avery Uses Arm, Bat to Defeat Expos

Steve Avery pitched seven strong innings for his first victory in a month and also hit a two-run homer as the Atlanta Braves beat the Montreal Expos, 7-2, on Monday at Montreal.

Jermaine Dye hit a two-run homer in the second inning and Marquis Grissom hit a solo shot in the seventh. Atlanta increased its lead over second-place Montreal in the National League East to four games.

Avery (7-7), who left for a pinch hitter in the eighth inning, gave up only five hits in winning for the first time in six starts.

The left-hander, who gave up 30 runs in his previous five starts, struck out three and walked one to beat Montreal for the first time since 1993. His lifetime record against the Expos is 3-7.

San Francisco 9, Colorado 6--Mark Carreon hit a two-run home run and Barry Bonds homered and drove in three runs at San Francisco as the Giants ended a 10-game losing streak.

The Giants avoided their worst losing streak since the 1944 New York team lost 13 in a row. San Francisco also lost 10 consecutive games in 1985.

Trailing, 6-5, in the sixth inning, the Giants rallied against Lance Painter (4-2). Stan Javier doubled, and Carreon followed with his ninth home run of the season, a drive into the left-field bleachers.

Jeff Juden (4-0), the third of five Giant pitchers, pitched two innings for the win. Rod Beck worked the ninth inning for his 17th save.

The Rockies, coming off a wild four-game series with the Dodgers, have scored 58 runs in their last five games.

Cincinnati 8, St. Louis 5--The Reds scored six runs in the first inning off Alan Benes, and Barry Larkin and Joe Oliver homered at St. Louis. Hal Morris and Jeff Branson added two RBIs apiece for the Reds, who won for the seventh time in eight games. St. Louis’ eight-game home winning streak was snapped.

Morris left the game in the fifth inning after he was struck on the right elbow by the barrel of Eric Davis’ shattered bat while standing in the on-deck circle. He laid on the ground for several minutes before walking off the field unassisted.

After the start of the game was delayed 47 minutes because of the threat of rain, the Reds wasted no time getting to Benes (7-5), who had won four of his previous five decisions

Pittsburgh 4, Chicago 1--Danny Darwin, who nearly retired after last season, continued his remarkable comeback with seven innings of six-hit pitching at Pittsburgh.

Orlando Merced had two run-scoring singles and Jeff King went four for four with an RBI for the Pirates, who won at home for only the 16th time in 39 games. Their home record is the National League’s worst.

Darwin (7-7), offered only a minor-league contract by Pittsburgh after going 3-10 with Toronto and Texas last season, gave up one run to win for the fifth time in his last six starts.

Philadelphia 6, New York 4--Kevin Stocker, recalled from the minor leagues earlier in the day, drove in two runs and Mike Williams scattered eight hits in seven innings at Philadelphia.

Stocker, who batted only .186 in 46 games with the Phillies before being sent down on June 3, doubled home two runs in the fifth inning and Philadelphia halted a six-game losing streak to New York.

Houston 6, Florida 2--Mike Hampton pitched a five-hitter at Houston and the Astros got their third consecutive complete game for the first time in 10 years.

Hampton (6-4) outdueled National League ERA leader Kevin Brown, striking out seven and retiring 12 of the last 14 batters. Hampton gave up a two-run homer to Gary Sheffield in the fourth before settling down for his second complete game this season.

The last time Houston had three complete games in a row was April 25-27 1986, when Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott and Bob Knepper pitched them against Cincinnati.

The Astros, who have won seven of nine games, managed five hits and three runs--one earned--off Brown (7-6) in seven innings. The right-hander struck out seven and walked one and lowered his ERA to 1.85.