NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Finley Scores Run, Saves Run in Padre Victory

Steve Finley was paying attention when the Chicago Cubs weren’t, which allowed him to score from second base on a botched rundown play in the sixth inning Wednesday to give the Padres a 1-0 victory at San Diego.

In the ninth inning, everybody was paying attention when Finley reached over the center field fence to rob Rick Wilkins of a game-tying home run.

“That’s the situation you dream about as an outfielder, to reach over the fence and take a home run away from somebody that would have either won or tied the ballgame,” Finley said.

It’s a play that will cause losing pitcher Steve Trachsel to have nightmares.

“Finley got lucky,” he said. “I don’t know how he made the catch. As soon as Wilkins hit it, we all knew it was out. What can you do?

“I outpitched [Andy Benes] and I still ended up losing. It stinks.”

Not to Benes (2-4), who struck out seven in his shutout.

The run he got as support was a bizarre one.

Trachsel walked Finley and Ken Caminiti with two outs in the sixth inning. Caminiti was caught off first base by catcher Wilkins, and while Caminiti was being chased back and forth, Finley cruised around to score.

Finley was credited with a stolen base, with the run scoring on a fielder’s choice. Caminiti was safe at first when Trachsel was late covering.

Philadelphia 6, New York 2--Tom Marsh, taking injured Lenny Dykstra’s spot on the roster and filling injured Gregg Jefferies’ place in left field, hit two home runs for the Phillies, who won their fifth in a row and sent the Mets to their third consecutive loss.

Dave Gallagher had three hits and scored twice as the banged-up Phillies won their seventh in a row on the road.

Houston 5, Montreal 3--Greg Swindell (4-3) won for the first time in a month and Tony Eusebio drove in three runs at Montreal, where the Astros completed a three-game sweep of their series with the Expos.

Swindell, winless in his last five starts, gave up one run on four hits over six innings.

Houston finished its trip 7-2 and returns to the Astrodome, where it is 7-15.

Cincinnati 3, Atlanta 1--John Smiley (6-1) and two relievers combined on a three-hitter as the Reds snapped Atlanta’s seven-game winning streak and ended Tom Glavine’s perfect record in Riverfront Stadium.

Glavine (5-4) was 12-0 in 13 starts in Cincinnati.

Smiley pitched seven innings, giving up only Jeff Blauser’s leadoff single in the fourth. Hector Carrasco gave up a single to Mark Lemke in the eighth, and Jeff Brantley earned his 10th save by striking out four of the five batters he faced. But he also served up Fred McGriff’s 10th homer in the ninth with two outs, the closest the Braves have come to being shut out this season.

San Francisco 6, Pittsburgh 5--Robby Thompson’s suicide squeeze-bunt double broke a ninth-inning tie at Pittsburgh, where the Giants prevented the Pirates’ first sweep of the season.

Thompson put down a perfectly placed bunt to score Tom Lampkin and went to second when the Pirates left the base unprotected.

Thompson later scored the Giants’ final run on Glenallen Hill’s bases-loaded grounder, and the run proved important when Jacob Brumfield homered for the Pirates in the bottom of the ninth.

Colorado 6, Florida 3--Jason Bates drove in two runs at Denver with a bases-loaded walk and a double, and Larry Walker, Dante Bichette, Mike Kingery and Vinny Castilla also drove in runs in an 11-hit attack that helped break the Rockies’ five-game losing streak.