NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Marlins Beaten by Mets, Elements in Six-Hour, 12-Inning Game

Rookie Jeromy Burnitz doubled in the 12th inning and scored on Tim Bogar’s sacrifice fly, and the New York Mets outlasted the Florida Marlins, 10-9, Tuesday night at Miami.

The game took 4 hours 20 minutes, not including an 88-minute rain delay prolonged when the grounds crew fumbled with the tarpaulin.

Rookie David Telgheder (2-0) pitched three perfect innings for the victory. Matt Turner (1-1) took the loss.

Burnitz led off the 12th by doubling off the center field wall and took third when Henry Cotto made a bad throw to the cutoff man. Bogar brought Burnitz home with a fly ball to left.

Both team’s top relievers, Florida’s Bryan Harvey and New York’s John Franco, blew save opportunities.

But it was the Marlins’ grounds crew that looked most like an expansion team, handling the tarpaulin for 15 minutes before managing to cover the infield.

By the time the team of 40 workers was able to put the tarp in place, a lake had formed around third base, and the downpour had nearly stopped. Moments later the tarp came off, but it took another hour to get the infield back into playing condition.

“It’s their first year,� plate umpire Joe West said of the grounds crew. “Give them a break.�

When the crew rolled out the tarp in right field and began to drag it toward the third base line, it became stuck over the right side of the infield. As drenched workers vainly tried to pull the tarp over the exposed part of the infield, the public address system played the theme to “Mission: Impossible,� and the scoreboard read, “Sorry! We are experiencing technical difficulties!�

One worker became entangled under the tarp, and Marlin Manager Rene Lachemann ran onto the field to make sure other crew members saw their trapped colleague.

Philadelphia 13, St. Louis 10--Jim Eisenreich drove in three runs as the Phillies broke open the game with a six-run sixth inning at St. Louis.

St. Louis led, 5-4, after Todd Zeile’s three-run homer in the fifth. But rookie reliever Tom Urbani (0-1) walked John Kruk with the bases loaded and Dave Hollins followed with a run-scoring single against Omar Olivares, his first RBI since coming off the disabled list Monday.

Darren Daulton added a sacrifice fly, Eisenreich had a run-scoring single and Mariano Duncan capped the rally with a two-run single as the Phillies tied their season high for runs in an inning. Milt Thompson added a two-run double in the seventh.

St. Louis made the score 12-7 on Ozzie Smith’s run-scoring groundout in the eighth, but Kruk doubled home a run in the ninth. Luis Alicea hit a three-run homer against David West in the bottom of the ninth.

Ben Rivera (8-3) won for the seventh time in eight decisions, giving up five runs and seven hits in five innings.

Philadelphia, which leads the National League East by 7 1/2 games over the Cardinals, had 17 hits and ended a three-game losing streak.

Montreal 9, Pittsburgh 2--Moises Alou, Marquis Grissom and Larry Walker hit consecutive home runs in the seventh inning to lead the Expos at Montreal.

Chris Nabholz (4-5) gave up three hits in eight innings, winning for the first time since May 15. He entered the game with a 7.15 earned-run average.

Atlanta 6, Colorado 4--David Justice broke out of a one-for-16 slump with a solo home run and run-scoring single to lead the Braves at Atlanta.

Justice, eight for 18 with three homers and 12 runs batted in when Atlanta swept a four-game series from the Rockies earlier this year, gave the Braves a 1-0 lead in the second with his 16th home run of the season.

Cincinnati 3, Houston 0--Barry Larkin, one of Doug Drabek’s toughest outs, hit a homer to back Tom Browning’s 7 2/3 shutout innings and lift the Reds at Cincinnati.

Browning (5-3), trying to avoid a demotion to the bullpen, won for the second time in three starts by giving up only five hits. Only two runners got as far as second base.

Chicago 10, San Diego 5--Mark Grace hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning and the Cubs rallied twice at San Diego.

Cub starter Mike Morgan (5-8), who came off the disabled list earlier in the day, gave up three runs--all on Phil Plantier’s two homers--and seven hits in six innings. Tim Worrell (0-1), the younger brother of Dodger pitcher Todd Worrell, lost in his first major league start, giving up five runs and nine hits in seven innings.