Marlins Still Looking for an April Victory

The Florida Marlins’ 0-for-April streak continued Sunday when Jermaine Allensworth singled in three of Pittsburgh’s first four runs and Jason Schmidt pitched seven effective innings to lead the Pirates to a 7-3 victory at Pittsburgh.

Florida’s franchise-record losing streak reached 11 in a row--all in April--as the Marlins remained winless in a four-game series that concludes today. The Marlins haven’t won since opening day March 31.

The Marlins are 1-11, yet Manager Jim Leyland hasn’t staged a postgame blowup or criticized his roster-ravaged World Series champions.

“Our guys are trying. We’re just not playing very good,” he said of the Marlins, who traded or cast off most of their high-priced talent. “We’re not hitting very good. And I’m not managing very good. Obviously, when you’re 1-11 and you’ve lost 11 in a row, it’s not very good.”

The Pirates, chastised by General Manager Cam Bonifay on his pregame radio show for not being as committed to the team concept as a year ago, won their third in a row and fourth in five games.

Bonifay was so upset by the mental errors in Saturday’s 7-6, 10-inning victory that he pounded his fist on a table, saying he didn’t like what he saw from his work-in-progress team.

“I always write myself notes during the game when I see mental mistakes, and I felt I was writing too much,” he said. “It’s youth. Sometimes it’s frustrating when you know that if they made better mental decisions, the physical stuff would take care of itself.”

San Francisco 2, St. Louis 1--John Frascatore walked Bill Mueller with the bases loaded and two out in the ninth inning, giving the Giants the win at San Francisco.

Brian Johnson doubled with one out in the ninth off Frascatore (0-2), and went to third on Rich Aurilia’s groundout. Charlie Hayes and Darryl Hamilton then walked to load the bases before Frascatore walked Mueller on four consecutive pitches.

San Diego 4, Arizona 2--Ken Caminiti homered in his fourth consecutive game, a 439-foot shot to center at San Diego, and the Padres won their seventh game in a row.

The Padres matched the best start in club history, equaling the 10-2 mark of the 1984 club, which reached the World Series.

Atlanta 3, Philadelphia 2--Tom Glavine yielded six hits in eight innings and Ryan Klesko homered to lead the Braves at Philadelphia.

Glavine (2-0) struck out four and walked one in improving his lifetime record against Philadelphia to 15-6, including 9-3 at Veterans Stadium.

Mark Wohlers gave up a run-scoring single to pinch-hitter Mike Lieberthal in the ninth and threw consecutive wild pitches to move the tying run to third. He then struck out Kevin Sefcik.

New York 6, Milwaukee 4--John Olerud hit a two-run homer in the seventh to lift the Mets at Milwaukee.

Olerud’s shot saved Turk Wendell (3-0) who blew a 4-1 lead after replacing starter Brian Bohanon to start the sixth inning.

Montreal 4, Chicago 1--Rookie Brad Fullmer went four for four and drove in four runs at Montreal as the Expos spoiled pitcher Kerry Wood’s major league debut.

Fullmer hit two-run doubles in the third and fifth innings to provide all the offense the Expos needed to beat Wood, the Cubs’ first-round draft choice in 1995 who is considered one of baseball’s top pitching prospects.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

* Brad Fullmer, Montreal

4 for 4, 2 doubles, 4 RBIs, in 4-1 win over Chicago.

* Chris Stynes, Cincinnati

3 for 4, home run, 4 runs in 10-4 win over Colorado.

* John Olerud, New York

2 for 4, homer, 2 RBIs 6 -4 win over Milwaukee.

PITCHING

* Tom Glavine, Atlanta

8 innings, 6 hits, no walks in 3-2 win over Philadelphia.

* Joey Hamilton, San Diego

8 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs in 4-2 win over Arizona.