Edmonds Powers Cardinals

Jim Edmonds homered twice and Pat Hentgen pitched six strong innings, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a rain-delayed, 12-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night in a meeting of division leaders. Edmonds has 36 home runs.

St. Louis maintained its 8 1/2-game lead over Cincinnati in the NL Central, while the Braves’ margin in the East dropped to two games over the New York Mets.

Cincinnati 8, Philadelphia 3--Phillies’ pitcher Omar Daal became the first 15-game loser in the majors as the Reds defeated the Phillies at Cincinnati.

Sean Casey had two sacrifice flies off Daal (3-15) and later had a two-run homer off Jason Boyd.