What’s Left of the Marlins Beats Cardinals

The Florida Marlins didn’t need the last of their big-money players.

The Marlins started out looking more like defending World Series champions than a franchise in disarray Friday night, setting a team record with nine consecutive hits in the first inning of an 8-7 victory over the Cardinals at St. Louis.

Florida scored seven runs in the first off rookie Brady Raggio (0-1) with three players on the bench awaiting a reported trade to the Dodgers and a fourth, Gary Sheffield, in Los Angeles considering whether to waive his no-trade clause.

Cliff Floyd, who had a run-scoring single and a bases-loaded walk in the inning, said players tried to put the situation out of their minds.

“As a team we’ve already dealt with the trauma of losing all our guys before the season started,” Floyd said. “This is nothing. It’s a huge deal, don’t get me wrong, I’m not stupid, but it’s something that’s been going on. So why dwell on it? Why make it a big thing?”

Catcher Charles Johnson was replaced by Gregg Zaun, third baseman Bobby Bonilla was replaced by Dave Berg and Sheffield, the right fielder, was replaced in the order by center fielder John Cangelosi as Mark Kotsay moved to right.

Bonilla was on-deck as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning before Berg, the No. 8 hitter, made the third out.

Those three, along with Jim Eisenreich and pitcher Manuel Barrios went to the Dodgers in exchange for catcher Mike Piazza and third baseman Todd Zeile in the biggest money deal ever in baseball.

Manager Jim Leyland has orders not to talk about the deal. He ducked the media before the game, keeping his office filled with coaches and other visitors.

“I’m being evasive, I know that, and I probably sound a little sarcastic, but I apologize for that,” Leyland said. “Believe me, I’ve got orders from headquarters not to talk about this at all.

“Please forgive me, but that’s the way it is.”

The Marlins, who are 14-28 and whose new owners have purged nearly all of their championship team, had enough to knock the Cardinals below .500 at 19-20 for the first time this season. Florida also ended a five-game losing streak, overcoming two homers by Ray Lankford.

Raggio, called up from triple-A Memphis earlier in the day, got leadoff hitter Cangelosi on a groundout. The Marlins followed with singles by Edgar Renteria, Floyd, Derrek Lee, Kotsay, Zaun, Craig Counsell, Berg and pitcher Brian Meadows.

Milwaukee 8, Colorado 5--Mark Loretta went three for three with two RBIs and Dave Nilsson had two RBI doubles as the Brewers won at Denver.

Steve Woodard (3-1) limited the Rockies to one hit--Dante Bichette’s solo homer--through five innings. He went 5 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on two hits.

The Rockies had the tying run at the plate with two outs in the ninth inning, but Mike Myers struck out Larry Walker with runners on second and third for his first save.

Colorado lost its fifth in a row and fell to 4-14 at home.

Atlanta 3, Houston 2--Eddie Perez renewed the Braves’ home run spree, connecting twice and driving in three runs at Houston.

Dennis Martinez got his first save since July 11, 1993, and his second since 1980. He gave up one run in 1 2/3 innings for the seventh save of his career.

Atlanta’s 25-game home-run streak was stopped Thursday night by St. Louis. The streak is a National League record and tied the major league mark.

Perez was without a home run in 38 at-bats before hitting home runs in his first two at-bats against Jose Lima.

Arizona 6, Pittsburgh 1--Jeff Suppan pitched a four-hitter and Matt Williams hit a two-run homer at Phoenix.

Williams, who hit a two-run double Thursday when Arizona beat Milwaukee to end an eight-game losing streak, went two for five against Pittsburgh. Devon White had four of the Diamondbacks’ 15 hits, including two doubles.

Suppan (1-4) pitched his first complete game and got his first victory since Sept. 12, 1997, when he beat Milwaukee while pitching for Boston.

San Diego 7, Philadelphia 6--Greg Vaughn hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning, his fifth in seven games, as the Padres rallied at San Diego.

Vaughn’s homer, on a two-and-two pitch from Mike Grace (1-5), went an estimated 421 feet into the seats in left-center field. Vaughn had two homers against the Mets on Wednesday night, including a tape-measure shot into the second deck.

San Diego’s third consecutive victory could prove costly, though, because batting star Tony Gwynn took himself out of the game because of a twisted right knee after reaching on an error by shortstop Desi Relaford in the fifth inning. Gwynn will undergo an MRI exam.

San Francisco 3, New York 2--Orel Hershiser pitched seven innings of four-hit ball and Jeff Kent doubled home the go-ahead run in the seventh as the Giants beat the Mets for their eighth win in nine home games.

Hershiser (2-3) gave up two runs, walked three and struck out two to win his second game in a row and first in San Francisco since beating the Giants as a member of the Dodgers on July 26, 1994.

Robb Nen got the last four outs for his eighth save.