Piazza Wins It For L.A. In 10th

National League

Mike Piazza singled home the winning in the 10th inning Sunday and the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers stopped a five-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros.

Billy Wagner (7-8) struck out three of his first four batters, then walked Otis Nixon and Eric Young with one out in the 10th. Piazza then singled to center off Jose Lima.

Todd Worrell got three outs for his 35th save.

Jeff Bagwell hit a two-run homer in the first off Hideo Nomo, his 39th, equalling his club record. Nomo, who allowed just three more runners, matched his season high with 11 strikeouts in seven innings and allowed just three hits.

Marlins 5, Giants 4 Miami

Kurt Abbott broke an eighth-inning tie with an RBI single that traveled 10 feet, and Florida dropped San Francisco into a first-place tie with Los Angeles in the N.L. West.

San Francisco scored once in the ninth and had runners at second and third with two outs. Third baseman Bobby Bonilla then made a game-ending catch of Barry Bonds’ pop foul while tumbling into the first row of stands.

Cardinals 10, Padres 4 St. Louis

Mark McGwire hit his 51st homer, and St. Louis scored seven runs in the eighth.

McGwire connected off Joey Hamilton (11-6) in the sixth, and is one short of his career high, set last season.

Tony Gwynn hit his 45th double in the first to tie the Padres record Steve Finley set last season.

Gwynn is 15 hits shy of the team record of 218 he set in 1987.

Mets 1, Expos 0 New York

A ninth-inning collision at home plate that led to three Montreal ejections, including manager Felipe Alou and trainer Lance McLean, overshadowed Dave Mlicki’s pitching performance for New York.

Luis Lopez homered for the first time in more than a year and Mlicki pitched 8-1/3 shutout innings.

Cubs 3, Pirates 2 Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh continued a slide that may soon drop it out of contention in the N.L. Central, as Mark Clark remained unbeaten with Chicago.

The Pirates have lost 14 of 19.

Clark (13-7), who had been 0-5 against the Pirates, gave up six hits, struck out eight and walked none in eight innings for his sixth consecutive victory. He is 5-0 in seven starts since being traded by the Mets.

Reds 6, Phillies 4 Philadelphia

Jon Nunally had three hits, scored two runs and came home on the front end of a double steal as Cincinnati rallied.

Jeff Shaw pitched a scoreless ninth to convert his 12th consecutive save chance, giving him 37 in 43 opportunities.

Rockies 4, Braves 0 Atlanta

Colorado won for the 15th time in 17 games, completing a three-game sweep of Atlanta.

Andres Galarraga’s eighth-inning hit broke up a scoreless duel between John Smoltz (14-12) and Pedro Astacio (11-9), who set a Rockies record with 12 strikeouts. Pinch-hitter John VanderWal had a three-run homer in the ninth, his first home run since Sept. 16, 1996.

Colorado was 11 games out of first on Aug. 30.

Clearing the bases

The victory clinched a .500 record for the Mets for their first non-losing season since winning 91 in 1990. … New York’s Butch Huskey went 0 for 3, ending his hitting streak at 20 games. … Colorado’s previous strikeout record was 10 by Bill Swift at Los Angeles on July 2, 1995. … Florida’s Charles Johnson is 0 for 13 with the bases loaded, worst in the league.