Phillies Lead East by 8

Rookie Kevin Stocker broke an 0-for-14 slump with a tie-breakingsingle in the seventh inning that carried the Philadelphia Philliesto a 7-4 victory Thursday over the Montreal Expos.

The triumph enabled the Phillies to boost their lead over theSt. Louis Cardinals to eight games in the East.

With one out in the seventh, Wes Chamberlain singled off losingpitcher Tim Scott (4-2). Chamberlain took second on a passed balland scored the go-ahead run on Stocker's two-out single. ThePhillies added two insurance runs in the eighth when Mariano Duncanscored on a wild pitch and Dave Hollins hit his 13th home run.

Roger Mason (5-8) pitched two innings of shutout relief for thevictory. Mitch Williams worked the ninth for his 31st save.

Pirates 5, Cardinals 4: Jeff King's single over a drawn-inoutfield in the 11th inning scored Carlos Garcia with the winning runand lifted host Pittsburgh past St. Louis.

Losing pitcher Todd Burns (0-4) retired the first batter in the11th before Garcia, who went 4-for-6, hit a sinking liner that gotpast right fielder Mark Whiten for a triple. After Cardinals managerJoe Torre elected to walk Jay Bell and Orlando Merced intentionallyto set up a force at any base, King hit a line drive over leftfielder Bernard Gilkey's head on a 2-1 pitch.

Braves 8, Mets 4: Ron Gant and David Justice each hit two-runhome runs and John Smoltz allowed just three hits in 7 2/3 innings topower visiting Atlanta past New York.

The victory move the Braves within 8 1/2 games of the idle SanFrancisco Giants in the West.

Smoltz (11-9) carried a one-hitter into the eighth inning beforeallowing Ryan Thompson's three-run home run. He finished with fivestrikeouts and three walks.

Rockies 4, Dodgers 1: Colorado completed the first four-gamesweep in franchise history by dumping host Los Angeles and extending itsclub-record winning streak to five games.

Astros 5, Padres 3: Luis Gonzalez tripled and scored thetie-breaking run on Andujar Cedeno's sacrifice fly in the sixthinning as visiting Houston tripped San Diego for its fifth victory inits last six games.