NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Bonds Leads Hit Parade for Pirates in Cincinnati

The Pittsburgh Pirate hitters have been struggling at home, but on the road it’s a different story.

Barry Bonds hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning Thursday night at Cincinnati in a 10-6 victory over the Reds.

After Cincinnati wiped out Pirate leads, Bonds’ 12th home run sparked a five-run eighth inning at the expense of Randy Myers (4-6) that broke the game open.

“I think it was Randy. It was his 90 mile-an-hour pitch more than anything else,” Bonds said. “It just hit my bat and jumped. That wasn’t me; that was him.”

Cincinnati fans are booing Myers, who has not pitched well this season.

“They can boo him, but they just don’t know how good he is,” Bonds said. “He’ll go out there every day and his velocity never changes.”

The Pirates, who had 14 hits, have scored 42 runs in their last four road games. They have scored only 12 runs in the last four at home.

Eric Davis, making his first start since July 3, hit a two-run home run in the seventh to tie the score, 5-5.

Vicente Palacios (6-2) got the victory, although he gave up the home run to Davis.

Atlanta 4, St. Louis 1--As a 20-year-old rookie last year, the Braves’ Steve Avery was 3-11, but he received valuable training.

The hard-throwing left-hander has matured considerably in a year.

Avery (9-5) pitched six perfect innings at Atlanta before Rex Hudler’s bloop single spoiled his bid for perfection. Avery gave up an unearned run and two hits in 7 1/3 innings.

He said he wasn’t upset over losing his perfect game, but he was nervous in the eighth inning when two errors gave St. Louis a chance to catch up.

“I knew it was in there as soon as he hit it,” he said of Hudler’s hit. “After that I just went for the win or the shutout. Losing the no-hitter didn’t bother me.”

It was another of a series of hardluck defeats for Jose DeLeon. DeLeon (3-8) gave up five hits in seven innings and both runs he yielded were unearned because of an error by third baseman Todd Zeile.

A two-run double by Brian Hunter in the eighth inning gave the Braves the only earned runs of the game.

New York 4, San Diego 3--The Pirates may have ended their slump, but the Mets kept the pressure on.

After Dwight Gooden blew a 3-1 lead in the eighth inning at New York, the Mets rallied with two out in the ninth and extended their winning streak to eight games.

With the potential winning run on second, the Padres, who have lost 10 of their last 13 games, walked switch-hitting Garry Templeton intentionally so Larry Andersen could pitch to right-handed hitting Kevin McReynolds. McReynolds bounced a single up the middle and Gregg Jefferies raced home.

Gooden, who reached the 1,500 mark in strikeouts, was chased after Jerald Clark singled in a run with one out in the eighth inning. Benito Santiago doubled home Clark to tie the game.

John Franco (2-6) who stopped the rally, was the winner.

Houston 6, Chicago 4--After blowing a 4-0 lead at Chicago, the Astros prevailed in 11 innings for their sixth victory in the last seven games.

Ken Oberkfell’s two-run double with two out in the 11th spelled the difference.

Philadelphia 3, San Francisco 2--John Kruk homered and drove in two runs at Philadelphia and the Phillies ended their three-game losing streak.

Terry Mullholland (8-8) gave up five hits in 8 1/3 innings to get the victory.

Kruk singled in a run in the fourth inning and hit his 11th home run in the eighth.