NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Leiter’s Four-Hitter Helps Giants Sweep Phillies

Knowing the injured Matt Williams wouldn’t be in the lineup made Mark Leiter work that much harder.

The result was a four-hitter, good for his first career shutout, and the Giants completed a series sweep by defeating Philadelphia, 4-0, Sunday at San Francisco.

It was the Phillies’ first three-game losing streak of the season.

Williams, the Giants’ offensive mainstay, will miss at least six weeks because of a broken bone in his right foot suffered during Saturday’s game.

“All of us know we have to pick up the slack,” Leiter said.

Leiter (3-1) struck out three, walked two, made a sensational catch of Charlie Hayes’ attempted bunt in the seventh inning and singled and scored in the bottom of the seventh.

After giving up a one-out double to Tyler Green in the fifth, Leiter retired the final 14 batters.

Green (4-4) took the loss despite giving up only one run on three hits in six innings. He walked six and struck out four.

Colorado 4, Pittsburgh 1--Vinny Castilla hit solo homers in consecutive at-bats at Denver, helping former Angel Joe Grahe earn his first National League victory.

Larry Walker also had a solo homer, his 12th, as the Rockies swept the three-game series and ran their winning streak to four games. It was Colorado’s fourth series sweep of the season.

Grahe (1-1), in his first starting assignment since having off-season shoulder surgery, went six innings and gave up six hits and one unearned run. Grahe signed with the Rockies in December.

Cincinnati 4, St. Louis 0--Pete Schourek gave up only one hit over 7 2/3 innings at Cincinnati for his fourth consecutive victory.

Bret Boone and Eddie Taubensee homered off Ken Hill (4-1), and Reggie Sanders extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games with a run-scoring double to give the Reds their 11th victory in 13 games.

In his last five starts, Schourek (4-2) has given up only four runs and struck out 39 batters in 38 innings.

San Diego 8, Montreal 4--Tony Gwynn went four for four with two runs batted in, and the Padres broke out of an offensive slump with 13 hits at San Diego.

The Padres had been held to one run and four hits in losing the first two games of the series.

Eddie Williams, Ken Caminiti and Andujar Cedeno hit home runs, and Gwynn had his 26th career four-hit game.

Houston 6, Atlanta 2--The Astros got homers from Luis Gonzalez and Craig Biggio and completed their first three-game sweep in Atlanta since 1989.

Right-hander Shane Reynolds (2-4) earned his first victory since May 9, giving up two runs and eight hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked one in helping Houston complete its trip with a 4-1 record.

Chicago 5, Florida 3--Sammy Sosa hit a home run and drove in the go-ahead run with a sixth-inning double at Miami.

Frank Castillo (4-2) gave up only six hits in eight-plus innings, striking out three and walking two. Randy Myers got the last three outs for his 13th save.