NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Cardinals End Braves’ Streak

It was the kind of play that Terry Pendleton usually makes. This time, he didn’t--and the St. Louis Cardinals took advantage to rally for three runs in the seventh inning and defeat the Atlanta Braves, 5-4, Tuesday night at Atlanta.

The Braves lost for only the second time in 15 games this season and saw their six-game winning streak end. Greg Maddux (3-1) took the loss.

With the Cardinals trailing, 4-2, Luis Alicea opened the seventh with a single against Maddux. Erik Pappas then bounced a potential double-play grounder to Pendleton at third base, but it skidded under his glove.

Pinch-hitter Gerald Perry then drove in two runs with a double and Bernard Gilkey singled in the winning run for the Cardinals to give Allen Watson (2-0) the victory.

Cincinnati 8, Pittsburgh 2--Roberto Kelly hit a three-run homer and Jose Rijo gave up only two hits in seven innings as the Reds won at Cincinnati.

Kelly’s homer against Blas Minor completed a four-run rally in the fourth inning and gave him eight hits in his last 12 at-bats. Kevin Mitchell had four hits and drove in two runs with a solo homer and a single.

Houston 3, Chicago 0--Greg Swindell won his third consecutive start and the Astros hit three solo homers to keep the Cubs the only major league team without a victory at home.

Swindell (3-0), who retired the first 12 batters, extended his scoreless streak to 17 innings, giving up four hits in seven innings.

Montreal 4, San Francisco 3--Moises Alou homered against Dave Burba in the ninth inning to lift the Expos to a victory at San Francisco and end their four-game losing streak.

Alou, who went three for four and scored twice, was the first batter to face Burba (0-1) and won the game with his third home run of the season.

New York 4, San Diego 3--Bret Saberhagen pitched eight effective innings and Jeff Kent got three hits to lead the Mets at San Diego.

Saberhagen (2-0) won despite giving up 11 hits, including five consecutive to start the game. He walked none and struck out five. John Franco pitched the ninth for his third save. Andy Benes (0-4) became the first four-game loser in the NL.

Florida 6, Colorado 4--Bret Barberie and Gary Sheffield hit home runs and David Weathers weathered a rain delay in the Marlins’ victory at Denver.

The game was stopped for 42 minutes because of rain in the top of the fourth inning with Florida ahead, 4-2, and Weathers (2-1) seemed to gain strength from the delay. He struck out the side in the fourth before retiring nine consecutive batters.