NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Rockies Return Home With a Bang

Back home, the Colorado Rockies quickly got back into the swing.

Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla and Andres Galarraga homered and Roger Bailey won his first major league start as the Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs, 12-5, Thursday night.

The victory came in the opener of a 10-game home stand, the Rockies’ longest of the season. It followed a 2-7 trip that dropped them out of first place in the NL West.

“In this ballpark, you don’t have to pull the ball. It’s when our guys go the other way where our guys are successful,” Colorado Manager Don Baylor said. “It’s on the road where everyone wants to pull the ball into the seats and that’s been a problem for us.”

The Rockies, 32-18 at home, had 14 hits. Castilla drove in three runs and Bichette and Eric Young each had two RBIs, and Galarraga scored four times.

Bailey (4-5) gave up nine hits, walked two and allowed five runs in eight innings as the Rockies won for only the third time in their last 11 games. The victory pulled Colorado within one game of the division-leading Dodgers in the NL West.

“Bailey gave us all we needed,” Baylor said. “He gave up four straight hits in the second inning, but I kept thinking I can’t go the bullpen.”

The Rockies hit Chicago starter Jaime Navarro (10-5) hard. Navarro, who lost for the first time in five starts, gave up eight runs on nine hits in five-plus innings.

“He started to get it up in the third inning,” Chicago Manager Jim Riggleman said. “When you do that in this park, their guys are going to make you pay for it.”

Galarraga hit his 24th home run, a 407-foot solo shot with one out in the second.

Bichette hit his NL-leading 29th home run with two outs and no one on in the fifth. It was his third homer in three games.

Singles by Galarraga and Castilla and an RBI single by Joe Girardi opened the sixth and chased Navarro. Walt Weiss hit an RBI single off reliever Turk Wendell, and Eric Young singled in two runs as the Rockies built a 9-2 lead.

Philadelphia 3, Houston 2--Pinch-hitter Gary Varsho hit a two-run single in the eighth inning as the Phillies beat the Astros at Houston for only their third win in 15 games.

Paul Fletcher (1-0) got the final two outs in the seventh, and Toby Borland pitched the final two innings for his fourth save.