NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Cardinals Win Despite Triple Play

Maybe Brian Jordan and Mark Whiten simply haven’t been Cardinals long enough to know the conventional wisdom: St. Louis wins with pitching and defense, not power.

Jordan and Whiten homered on consecutive pitches by reliever Joel Johnston immediately after a 31-minute rain delay in the ninth inning Tuesday, giving the Cardinals a 4-2 victory over the Pirates at Pittsburgh.

The Pirates lost for the seventh time in their last eight home games despite turning their first triple play since April 21, 1987.

Jordan also homered in the second inning, giving him his second two-homer game since July 19.

“Maybe it’s been a long time (since the Cardinals were known for their power), but we’ve got some guys capable of hitting the ball out of the ballpark,” Jordan said. “(Johnston) threw us two fastballs, and we were looking for them. That was just what we needed.”

Said Johnston: “We’d just turned the triple play the inning before, and I was pumped up, even during the rain delay. That’s a bummer, to have them hit homers on the first two pitches. That makes reality set in real quick. I hate to second-guess myself, but I probably should have thrown sliders.”

Bernard Gilkey and Ozzie Smith singled to start the Cardinals’ eighth. Then Gregg Jefferies hit a soft liner that shortstop Jay Bell caught in short left field.

Bell flipped the ball to second baseman Carlos Garcia to double off Gilkey, and Garcia threw to first baseman Kevin Young, beating a retreating Smith to complete the triple play.

Philadelphia 5, Montreal 2--Curt Schilling pitched a five-hitter and Dave Hollins drove in three runs with two doubles for the Phillies at Philadelphia.

Schilling (10-6) struck out seven and walked two as he worked his sixth complete game of the season.

Atlanta 3, New York 2--Fred McGriff scored the winning run on Jeff McKnight’s two-out error in the eighth inning as the Braves rallied at New York.

Eric Hillman (1-6), who had held Atlanta to four hits through the first seven innings, gave up four in the three-run eighth.

San Francisco 2, Cincinnati 1--Bill Swift won his seventh straight start and joined teammate John Burkett as the National League’s only 17-game winners as the Giants won at San Francisco.

In beating the Reds for the third time this season, Swift (17-5) shut down Cincinnati on two hits in eight innings. He allowed only one hit before Kevin Mitchell drilled a 436-foot homer, his 17th of the season, in the seventh.

San Diego 7, Houston 2--Andy Ashby gave up two runs in eight innings for his first victory in almost 16 months and Phil Plantier hit his eighth home run in 12 games to lead the Padres at San Diego.

Ashby (1-6) set a career high with nine strikeouts in his third start since being acquired July 27 from the Colorado Rockies. He gave up eight hits and walked one in his longest major league outing.

Miami 3, Chicago 2--Bob Natal tripled home Walt Weiss in the 15th inning to push the Marlins past the Cubs at Miami.

Weiss walked with two out in the 15th, his third walk in extra innings. Natal followed with his first triple of the year down the right-field line off Shawn Boskie (3-3).