They're not coming easy, but the Pittsburgh Pirates continue to pile up victories. Mike LaValliere stroked a bases-loaded single in the 12th inning Tuesday night, lifting the Pirates to a 6-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Pittsburgh, which holds a six-game lead in the National League West, has now won six of its last seven outings."We've had some pretty tough games against the Phillies in Philadelphia (last week), some tough games against the Mets. No one is giving us anything," LaValliere said. "We have to fight every night."

Andy Van Slyke, who had four hits, opened the 12th with an infield single off reliever Cliff Brantley, 2-5. Orlando Merced walked and both runners advanced on John Wehner's sacrifice. Steve Buechele was walked to load the bases.

LaValliere followed with a drive to right to bring home Van Slyke and give the Pirates their sixth win in the last seven games.

Bob Patterson, 4-0, the sixth Pittsburgh pitcher, earned the win with one inning of work.

Jay Bell had tied the game 5-5 in the seventh inning with a solo home run. Bell ripped a 2-0 pitch from Wally Ritchie for his ninth homer of the season.

"It was a big home run at the time," Bell said. "I was just happy I was able to come through in that situation. Tonight we played pretty well. Our hitting came through in some good situations."

Mariano Duncan's three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning against Roger Mason had given the Phillies a 5-4 edge in the see-saw battle.

"It took a while to get the job done," Pirates Manager Jim Leyland said following the 4:09 game. "We had a long night. We threw some bad pitches in some situations, but we finally got it done."

Elsewhere Tuesday in the National League, Chicago edged St. Louis 2-1, Cincinnati topped San Francisco 5-3, New York beat Montreal 5-2, Atlanta outlasted Los Angeles 9-8 and Houston blasted San Diego 11-0.

Cubs 2, Cardinals 1

At Chicago, Ryne Sandberg homered, tripled and scored both runs as the Cubs won their sixth straight game. Bob Scanlan, 2-3, picked up the win in 2 1-3 innings of hitless relief. Jim Bullinger earned his fifth save. Rookie Mark Clark, 0-2, took the loss. The Cardinals were without shortstop Ozzie Smith, who was diagnosed with chicken pox and returned home to St. Louis.

Reds 5, Giants 3

At Cincinnati, Hal Morris hit his first home run of the season and Jose Rijo struck out 10 batters in the Reds' fifth straight win. Rijo, 3-5, allowed seven hits over six innings. Rob Dibble struck out two in the ninth for his 10th save. Cory Snyder homered twice and drove in all three Giants runs.

Mets 5, Expos 2

At New York, David Cone fired a three-hitter for his NL-leading sixth complete game of the season, ending the Mets' five-game losing skid. Cone, 6-4, pitching on a slightly sprained right ankle that had delayed his start one day, added two hits. Jonathan Hurst, 0-1, was the loser.

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Braves 9, Dodgers 8

At Atlanta, Rafael Belliard snapped an 0-for-10 slump with a single to score Dave Justice with two out in the ninth, sending the Dodgers to their sixth straight defeat. The Braves scored twice in the ninth to erase an 8-7 deficit after L.A. had scored five times in the top of the inning. Juan Berenguer, 3-1, picked up the win despite a two-run homer by Eric Karros to cap the Dodgers' ninth.

Astros 11, Padres 0

At Houston, rookie Brian Williams notched his first major-league win and rookie Scooter Tucker had three hits and scored twice. Williams, called up from the minors Monday, scattered six hits over six innings. He also collected his first major-league hit and drove home two runs. Tucker had three hits, his first in the majors, a walk, was hit by a pitch, drove in a pair of runs and scored twice. He has reached base in nine of 10 plate appearances.

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