Marlins’ Bonilla Feels Right at Home

Jim Leyland couldn’t care less what Bobby Bonilla did with the Mets. He only knows about Bonilla’s contributions for the Pirates or Marlins.

Bonilla scored the go-ahead run in his return to Shea Stadium and Pat Rapp pitched eight strong innings Wednesday night as the Florida Marlins rallied to beat the New York Mets, 5-2.

Bonilla, traded to Baltimore on July 28, 1995, singled with one out in the sixth, took third on Jim Eisenreich’s second double of the game and scored on Charles Johnson’s groundout to shortstop, putting Florida ahead, 3-2.

“He’s always produced anyplace he’s played and the people in New York seemed to forget that,” Leyland added. “You can say whatever you want about when he played here but he’s always produced for me.

Florida entered the game leading third-place New York by one-half game in the NL East. The Marlins were playing the first of eight straight road games.

“It’s a huge road trip and it was important to get off to a good start,” said Bonilla. “We have to play well on the whole trip.”

Bonilla, who struck out twice, was heckled by fans throughout the game, and after he fouled off a ball in the eighth inning, fans chanted, “throw it back.”

Rapp (4-2), who was 0-1 in his previous five starts, gave up five hits, struck out four and walked two. Robb Nen followed with a perfect ninth for his 15th save in 19 chances.

San Diego 7, Colorado 5--Steve Finley had a double, triple and homer, drove in four runs and made a diving catch in right-center to end a rally as the Padres beat the Rockies at Denver.

Wally Joyner added three runs batted in for the Padres, who have won six in a row.

Rookie Will Cunnane (4-1) overcame a three-run homer by Dante Bichette in the first to pitch six solid innings. Cunnane has had his only two starts in the majors the last six days and has won both.

The Padres scored three runs on four hits in each of the first two innings off Roger Bailey (5-5) en route to a 6-3 lead.

Doug Bochtler pitched two innings for his second save, retiring Bichette on a fly out with two on to end the game.

San Diego’s Tony Gwynn, who came into the game just two percentage points behind Colorado’s Larry Walker in the battle for the major-league batting lead, had three hits to raise his average to .409. Walker had two hits and stayed at .407. Gwynn extended his hitting streak to 14 games.

Atlanta 6, Montreal 3--Tom Glavine pitched a seven-hitter over 8 1/3 innings and singled to start a three-run rally in the fifth inning to lead the Braves at Montreal.

Glavine (6-3) struck out six, walked one and left after giving up a one-out double to Vladimir Guerrero in the ninth. Glavine also had two hits and won his ninth consecutive decision in his last 12 starts against the Expos.

Mike Bielecki got the last two outs after giving up Chris Widger’s two-run homer in the ninth that cut the Braves’ lead to, 6-3.

Glavine, who last lost to the Expos on Aug. 25, 1992, has given up 19 earned runs in 89 innings for a 1.92 earned run average against Montreal since then.

“That’s probably a record number of fastballs for me,” Glavine said. “I don’t think I threw 10 changeups all night. It was a night where I had a good fastball and I just stuck with it.”

Fred McGriff hit a two-run homer and Chipper Jones hit a run-scoring single in the fifth as the Braves avoided their first three-game losing streak since last Sept. 24-26.

Houston 5, Cincinnati 2--Chris Holt rebounded strongly from his shortest start of the season and Jeff Bagwell doubled home two runs for the Astros at Cincinnati.

The Astros moved back to .500 (29-29) with their third consecutive win. The Reds have dropped four of six to remain in last place in the NL Central.

Holt (6-4) gave up seven hits over seven innings, losing his shutout when Willie Greene hit his sixth homer with two out in the seventh. The right-hander lasted only 3 2/3 innings last Friday, giving up six runs and seven hits in a 9-2 loss to San Diego.

Greene hit his second homer of the game in the ninth off Jose Lima. Billy Wagner got one out for his 10th save.

Dave Burba (4-5) threw 112 pitches in five innings, giving up five runs and eight hits with six walks.

Chicago 5, Philadelphia 1--Frank Castillo gave up five hits in 7 1/3 scoreless innings and Ryne Sandberg had three hits and two RBIs as the Cubs beat the Phillies at Chicago.

Castillo (3-7), who struck out five and walked two, helped the Cubs improve to 8-2 in their last 10 games. Bob Patterson pitched the final 1 2/3 innings, giving up Mike Lieberthal’s RBI double in the ninth.

Philadelphia, which avoided its seventh shutout of the year, has lost six in a row and eight of nine to drop to 19-37, the worst record in baseball.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Steve Finley

Team: San Diego

Performance: 3 for 5, 4 RBIs, double, triple, homer

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Jim Eisenreich

Team: Florida

Performance: 2 for 4, run, RBI, two doubles

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Ray Lankford

Team: St. Louis

Performance: 2 for 4, 3 RBIs, 2 runs, homer

Team’s Result: Win

PITCHING

Player: Andy Benes

Team: St. Louis

Performance: 6 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 11 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Pat Rapp

Team: Florida

Performance: 8 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 4 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Frank Castillo

Team: Chicago

Performance: 7 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 5 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win