NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Brushbacks, Brawl Mar Cubs’ Victory

The Pittsburgh Pirates are having a bad season, and Manager Jimmy Leyland doesn’t want his complaints to sound like sour grapes.

“We are cautious not to get into these situations,” Leyland said after the Pirates lost to the Chicago Cubs, 12-10, at Chicago on Monday in a game marred by brushbacks, a bench-clearing brawl and six ejections.

Steve Buechele’s tiebreaking two-run home run--one of seven home runs hit in the game--rallied the Cubs over the Pirates.

Carlos Garcia homered twice for the Pirates--who lost their third consecutive game and eighth in 10--and was the focal point of brushback pitches that resulted in the sixth-inning brawl.

It started when Pittsburgh’s Blas Minor (6-5) threw inside to Mark Grace after Bob Scanlan (3-5) hit Garcia in the top of the inning.

“They did what they had to do and we did what we had to do,” Leyland said.

Leyland argued Scanlan and Minor should have been thrown out, but not Al Martin. He also insisted that Jose Bautista should have been ejected when he hit Lonnie Smith with a pitch after Lloyd McClendon had homered.

“Everyone knew Scanlan threw at Garcia and the players took care of that (when Minor threw at but missed Grace),” Leyland said. “But they got away with one when Bautista threw at Lonnie. Bautista has pinpoint control.”

Grace said he “fully expected to get hit. That’s the way the game is played. I told the pitcher (Minor), ‘I’ll stand here until you hit me.’ ”

St. Louis 5, Florida 3--Brian Jordan and Rod Brewer supplied the offense, leading the Cardinals at St. Louis. Jordan had a triple and a double and scored two runs, and Brewer drove in two.

Lee Smith pitched a scoreless ninth for his major league-leading 37th save.

Cincinnati 6, Colorado 2--The Rockies lost their franchise-record eighth consecutive game as Tim Pugh’s complete game and Joe Oliver’s three-run homer lifted the Reds at Cincinnati.

Pugh (7-10) limited the Rockies to nine singles--three by Dante Bichette--before Vinny Castilla hit a two-run homer with two out in the ninth.

New York 4, Montreal 3--Bret Saberhagen won his fourth decision in a row, and Tim Bogar drove in three runs at New York.

Saberhagen (7-7) gave up three hits in eight innings, giving way to John Franco, who got his eighth save.