Braves Win Again On Freak Homer

Kenny Lofton hit a bizarre three-run, inside-the-park home run and Greg Maddux repeatedly pitched out of trouble as the Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres for the seventh straight time, 9-2 Tuesday night in San Diego.

Lofton’s homer, his third of the season, was the fifth inside-the-park home run in the majors in the last two days.

The Lofton homer was the result of a mental error by left fielder Greg Vaughn.

With runners at second and third and one out, Lofton hit a slicing one-hopper into the Padres’ bullpen. A San Diego reliever attempted to avoid the ball, but it bounced off the seat of his pants and fell onto a small ledge between the outfield fence and the bullpen seating area.

Vaughn stood just a few feet from the ball and raised his hands toward third-base umpire Joe West, anticipating a ground-rule double would be called.

But the ground rules at Qualcomm Stadium say the bullpens are in play, and West ruled it a homer.

Phillies 2, Reds 1 Cincinnati

Curt Schilling stopped Barry Larkin’s streak of reaching base at 13 - one shy of the N.L. record - and pitched a complete game as Philadelphia beat Cincinnati.

Rob Butler had an RBI single and Rico Brogna homered off rookie Brett Tomko (0-1) as the Phillies ended Cincinnati’s longest winning streak of the season at four games.

Cincinnati came away with the worst record in the major leagues (18-32), one game worse than Philadelphia.

Cubs 8, Pirates 7 Pittsburgh

Brant Brown, who had only eight hits all season, hit a three-run homer and Brian McRae, pinch-hitting for Brown, had a two-run single to lead Chicago past Pittsburgh.

Jeremi Gonzalez (1-0) won his major-league debut for the Cubs despite constantly pitching in trouble during his 5-1/3 innings.

Expos 5, Mets 4 Montreal

Darrin Fletcher homered and pinch-hitter F.P. Santangelo hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the fifth inning as Montreal rallied to beat New York.

Marc Valdes (2-2) pitched two-thirds of an inning for the win as Montreal moved one-half game ahead of New York into third place in the N.L. East. Lee Smith, the majors’ all-time leader in saves, pitched the ninth for his fourth save of the season and 477th of his career.

Marlins 8, Dodgers 5 Los Angeles

Longtime Dodgers nemesis Jim Eisenreich hit a bases-loaded triple off Hideo Nomo in the first inning to get Florida started toward its 11th victory in 14 games.

It was the fourth defeat in 11 starts for Nomo (5-4), who got tagged for four runs in the first inning and didn’t get to the fifth. In all, Nomo allowed nine hits and six runs - five earned.

Cardinals 8, Rockies 6 Denver

Alan Benes overcame an ugly fourth inning and helped his cause with a career-high three hits, leading St. Louis to victory over Colorado.

Clearing the bases

Colorado Rockies outfielder Ellis Burks was named the National League Player of the Week after hitting .435 with five home runs and 11 runs batted in over seven games. … Sammy Sosa of the Cubs is 14 for 33 (.424) during a nine-game hitting streak. … Ken Caminiti, last year’s N.L. MVP, was activated from the 15-day disabled list by San Diego.