NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Braves Rally in Ninth Inning to Defeat Pirates, Belinda, 6-2

The Atlanta Braves rallied in the ninth inning against Stan Belinda again. This time they didn’t even need Francisco Cabrera.

David Justice’s three-run homer capped a six-run ninth that broke a scoreless tie and the Braves, coming off their toughest loss of the season, defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2, at Atlanta on Friday night.

The Braves, victims of a four-run ninth-inning rally by Pittsburgh on Thursday, stranded 10 runners in the first eight innings before teeing off against Belinda (3-1), who hadn’t lost in 36 previous appearances.

Pinch-hitter Deion Sanders and Otis Nixon reached on consecutive one-out infield singles ahead of Jeff Blauser’s tiebreaking run-scoring single and Ron Gant’s two-run double.

After Gant’s double, Fred McGriff walked and Justice followed one out later with his 23rd homer, a drive to left that gave him 25 runs batted in over his last 23 games.

Belinda had pitched three scoreless innings against the Braves in three appearances since giving up Cabrera’s pennant-winning single in Game 7 of the National League playoffs last Oct. 14.

“I’ll make this quick, OK?” Belinda said. “I had nothing. I got spanked. I stunk. I lost the game, and that’s all I’m saying.”

Philadelphia 2, San Francisco 1--Todd Pratt’s sacrifice fly in the top of the 14th inning lifted the Phillies at San Francisco.

The Giants’ Barry Bonds led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a solo homer to tie the score, 1-1.

Losing pitcher Mike Jackson (5-3) sprained his right knee when Dave Hollins reached on first baseman Will Clark’s error to lead off the 14th. Rod Beck replaced Jackson and walked pinch-hitter Darren Daulton. Milt Thompson bunted the runners to second and third, before Pratt’s long fly to right.

Mitch Williams retired the side in order in the 14th for his 26th save.

St. Louis 13, Colorado 11--Todd Zeile equaled a career high with four RBIs, including a three-run homer, and the Cardinals used an eight-run sixth inning to beat the Rockies at Denver.

The Cardinals, ending a three-game losing streak, rallied from a 6-3 deficit with the eight-run outburst--their most productive inning of the season.

They sent 12 to the plate in the inning, including nine in a row who reached base safely after Zeile’s leadoff groundout. Rocky reliever Steve Reed (5-3) faced six consecutive batters without recording an out.

Bernard Gilkey and Gregg Jefferies each had two-run singles in the sixth. Ozzie Smith, Zeile and pinch-hitter Gerald Perry had run-scoring doubles, and Mark Whiten hit a run-scoring single.

Colorado scored twice in the ninth against Lee Smith on Charlie Hayes’ triple, Danny Sheaffer’s run-scoring single and Freddie Benavides’ run-scoring double. But Smith got the last four outs for his major league-leading 34th save.

Cincinnati 3, Florida 2--Jacob Brumfield hit a 410-foot triple and scored on pinch-hitter Randy Milligan’s single in the eighth inning for the Reds at Miami.

Bobby Ayala (4-4) pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings for the victory. Rob Dibble pitched a perfect ninth for his 14th save.

The Reds climbed to three games over .500 for the first time this year.

After Brumfield tripled with one out in the eighth against Richie Lewis (4-1), Milligan delivered a solid single to left field.

Houston 5, Chicago 1--Luis Gonzalez went four for four with an RBI to continue his assault on Cub pitching for the Astros at Chicago.

Mark Portugal (8-4) gave up one run and seven hits in 8 2/3 innings. Doug Jones got the final out for his 17th save. Portugal struck out four and walked one.

Gonzalez has 15 hits in 37 at-bats (.405) with three home runs and nine RBIs against the Cubs this season. Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 14 games and is batting 25 for 50 (.500) in that span.

The victory was Houston’s fourth in its last five games.

Greg Hibbard (8-7) gave up two runs on five hits in six innings.

Montreal 5, San Diego 0--Jeff Fassero pitched six shutout innings to earn his first major league victory as a starter and the Expos beat the Padres at San Diego for the eighth consecutive time.

Fassero (6-1), a converted reliever making his third start, had his longest outing in the majors, giving up three hits.