NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Marlins’ Hot Streak Continues on Another Abbott Inside Job

Even inside-the-park home runs are becoming routine for the Florida Marlins.

Kurt Abbott hit his second in four days and the Marlins extended their winning streak to five games Saturday by beating the Cincinnati Reds, 7-3, at Miami.

“When you’re hot like we are, all kinds of things fall into place,” Marlin Manager Rene Lachemann said. “There’s no explanation for it.”

Following Abbott’s three-run shot in the second inning, Bob Natal hit the next pitch over the left-field fence for his first homer since 1993. Natal added two-run double in the eighth, giving him a single-game career-high three runs batted in.

Florida improved to 5-0 during its current nine-game stretch against the National League’s three division leaders. The Marlins have won nine in a row at home and 13 of their past 15 games overall.

The Marlins had baseball’s worst record in early June. Their mark of 20-9 since the All-Star break is the National League’s best.

Colorado 16, Atlanta 4--Andres Galarraga and Larry Walker hit three-run homers at Atlanta as the Rockies beat the Braves for only the fourth time in 32 games.

Vinny Castilla and Ellis Burks hit two-run homers during a seven-run eighth inning, helping Colorado set a club record for runs on the road.

Galarraga homered off Kent Mercker (6-7) in the third and Walker homered off rookie Matt Murray in the seventh to help the Rockies end a five-game losing streak and improve to 2-7 this season against Atlanta.

Houston 3, New York 1--Thanks to Mike Simms’s two-run homer at Houston, the Astros ended their six-game losing streak and stopped the Mets’ six-game winning streak.

Mike Hampton (8-4) allowed only four hits in seven innings to gain the victory.

“[Hampton] shut us down,” New York Manager Dallas Green said. “We didn’t generate much. We just had a couple of opportunities. He didn’t give us much of a shot. The kid stepped up and pitched a pretty good game. They needed one and he gave it to them.”

Mike Henneman, acquired Thursday from the Detroit Tigers, gained his first National League save by pitching the ninth.

Chicago 4, San Francisco 0--Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace hit the 9,998th and 9,999th homers in Cub history and Jaime Navarro pitched an eight-hitter at San Francisco.

Navarro (10-4) allowed eight singles, three of them infield hits, and struck out eight. Dunston hit his 12th homer in the first, Rey Sanchez had a run-scoring double in the second and Grace hit his 13th homer in the third. Joe Kmak added a sacrifice fly in the ninth for the Cubs’ final run. The Cubs have won three in a row and eight of 12.

Giant starter Trevor Wilson lasted only four pitches before coming out of the game with an injured left shoulder. Wilson, who missed all of last season following shoulder surgery and was on the disabled list for 22 games this summer because of tendinitis, strained his rotator cuff.

Montreal 4, Philadelphia 3--Darrin Fletcher homered and Jeff Fassero allowed only one earned run in eight innings to lead the Expos at Philadelphia.

Fletcher had two hits and scored twice to make a winner of Fassero (11-9), who allowed six hits and struck out seven while walking five. Philadelphia starter Tommy Greene (0-2) took the loss, the Phillies’ ninth in their last 10 games and 12th in their last 14.

San Diego 6, St. Louis 5--After falling behind to a three-run home run by Brian Jordan in the first inning, the Padres fought back to win at home.