Road Weary and Tired, Reds Split Doubleheader With Marlins

Three victories in one day was more than the Cincinnati Reds could manage.

Al Leiter struck out 11 and Gary Sheffield hit his 36th home run to help the Florida Marlins defeat the weary Reds, 8-3, on Friday and gain a split of their doubleheader at Miami.

Jeff Brantley escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning of the opener and the Reds shook off a short night’s sleep to win, 6-5.

Cincinnati’s 13-inning, rain-delayed victory in Atlanta went into early Friday morning, and the Reds reached their Fort Lauderdale hotel at 5:30 a.m. They took the field against the Marlins 11 hours later.

“This was probably the toughest game we’ve had to play all year, coming off last night,” Cincinnati Manager Ray Knight. “This team is very tired right now.”

In 6 2/3 innings, Leiter (13-11) gave up five hits, three runs and matched a career-high with 11 strikeouts.

Montreal 10, San Francisco 8--Henry Rodriguez hit two of the Expos’ season-high five home runs and Giants reliever Mark Dewey threw a wild pitch for the go-ahead run at San Francisco.

Giants outfielder Barry Bonds struck out as a pinch-hitter with two outs in the ninth, but extended the NL’s longest current consecutive games played streak to 356. He has a strained left hamstring.

Montreal’s Moises Alou withdrew his appeal and began serving a four-day suspension for his part in the Aug. 12 brawl with Houston.

Atlanta 4, Chicago 3--Chipper Jones hit two home runs and Greg Maddux improved to 4-0 lifetime against his former teammates as the Braves defeated the Cubs at Atlanta.

Maddux (12-10), working at least seven innings for the ninth consecutive game, gave up three runs on four hits in seven innings.

Philadelphia 7, San Diego 4--Todd Zeile hit his career-high 20th home run and Rich Hunter won his first game since April for the Phillies at San Diego.

Hunter (2-4) gave up three runs on six hits in five innings. Ricky Bottalico pitched the ninth for his 27th save for the Phillies, who have won three of their last four games.

Pittsburgh 5, Colorado 3--Jermaine Allensworth had his first career four-hit game to lead the Pirates at Denver.

Jon Lieber (6-4) matched his career best with eight strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings for the Pirates.

St. Louis 1, Houston 0--Ray Lankford homered in the third inning and Donovan Osborne pitched seven solid innings as the Cardinals moved into first place in the Central Division with the victory at Houston.

The Cardinals have defeated the Astros seven consecutive times this season.