Padres Can’t Break Tapani

Sammy Sosa hit a two-run homer and Kevin Tapani shook off being struck by a broken bat to win his fourth straight decision Monday night at San Diego as the Chicago Cubs ended a five-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over the San Diego Padres.

The Padres have lost consecutive games for the first time this year.

Tapani (4-1) was hit on the left thigh by the barrel of Archi Cianfrocco’s bat in the fourth inning. Tapani, who fielded the come-backer and threw out Cianfrocco to end the inning, appeared to be limping in the dugout and Terry Mulholland warmed up in the bullpen.

But Tapani stayed in the game and pitched eight strong innings, giving up one run and five hits. He struck out three and walked two.

St. Louis 7, Montreal 0--Donovan Osborne ended a long drought and kept Carlos Perez’s going, giving up three hits in seven scoreless innings at St. Louis.

Osborne, who missed the first two weeks of the season with a groin injury that held him back last season, won for the first time since beating Kansas City last Aug. 31. He struck out four, walked three and helped himself with a diving stop of Vladimir Guerrero’s liner in the sixth.

The Expos, who lost to Houston 15-0 Sunday, haven’t scored in their last 21 innings.

Cincinnati 3, Philadelphia 1--Eddie Taubensee hit a two-run homer in the ninth and Brett Tomko gave up only three hits in eight innings at Cincinnati.

Taubensee’s homer decided a pitching matchup between Tomko and Tyler Green (2-2), each of whom gave up one run and three hits through the first eight innings.

Cincinnati’s Reggie Sanders and Philadelphia’s Gregg Jefferies left the game after hurting themselves in collisions with the outfield wall. Sanders hurt his lower back and Jefferies twisted his ankle.

Houston 4, New York 3--Tony Eusebio’s run-scoring double capped a three-run ninth inning as the Astros rallied in New York in a makeup of a rained out game.

The Astros comeback was seen by only about 4,000 fans, as less than a quarter of the 17,656 fans who bought tickets to last Thursday’s game showed up for the makeup.

John Franco (0-1), who entered the game with the Mets ahead, 3-1, gave up all three runs in the ninth for his first blown save in six chances.

San Francisco 6, Pittsburgh 5--Jeff Kent’s run-scoring single capped a two-run ninth against Rich Loiselle as the Giants rallied in their final at-bat for the second straight game at San Francisco.

The Giants overcame a 5-0 deficit and have now come back to win eight times this season. On Sunday, they rallied from six runs down and got two homers in the ninth to defeat Milwaukee.

Atlanta 6, Arizona 5--Keith Lockhart’s run-scoring single with one out in the ninth inning lifted the Braves at Phoenix.

The Braves blew a 5-3 lead in the eighth before beating Arizona for the fourth consecutive time.

Florida 5, Colorado 4--Bobby Bonilla hit his first homer of the season, a solo shot in the 10th against Curtis Leskanic to rally the Marlins at Denver.

Bonilla, who had three hits and two RBIs, sent a 3-2 fastball from Leskanic (1-3) into the right-field stands, breaking a 4-4 tie.

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NEXT SERIES FOR DODGERS

WHO: Pittsburgh Pirates

WHERE: at Pittsburgh

WHEN: Thursday, 4 p.m., Friday, 4 p.m., Saturday, 4 p.m., Sunday, 10:30 a.m.