NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Pirates Are Hot, Rockies Are Not

The Pittsburgh Pirates matched their longest winning streak since 1994, six in a row, Tuesday night with a 10-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Denver.

The loss also dropped the Rockies 1 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the West.

Orlando Merced and Jeff King had two runs batted in each and Esteban Loaiza pitched 7 2/3 strong innings for the Pirates, who hadn’t won six in a row since June 19-25, 1994.

Loaiza (8-5) scattered 10 hits, struck out one and walked none in winning for the first time in his last three starts. The 24-year-old right-hander held the Rockies scoreless until Walt Weiss’ RBI double in the seventh inning.

Merced hit his 13th homer in the third inning and had an RBI single in the fifth. Jay Bell and Mark Parent also homered and King had a two-run triple.

Armando Reynoso (5-5) gave up four runs and 10 hits in the first five innings and took the loss.

San Diego 5, Philadelphia 3--Tony Gwynn’s first grand slam of his career sparked the Padres at Philadelphia and snapped the Phillies’ five-game winning streak.

The Padres trailed, 3-0, going into the fifth inning, but Brad Ausmus, Andujar Cedeno and Bip Roberts singled to load the bases with two outs. Gwynn then connected on a 3-and-1 pitch for his eighth home run of the season.

The four RBIs gave him 73 on the season, a career high.

“It’s amazing what can happen with one swing of the bat,” Gwynn said. “It’s my first grand slam and I’ve been stuck on 69 RBIs for a long time.”

Gwynn said he had never hit a grand slam before--not in the minor leagues, not in high school, not in Little League.

It was the Padres’ eighth grand slam this season, best in the majors. The National League record is nine, held by the 1928 Chicago Cubs, and the major league record is 10, by the 1938 Detroit Tigers and 1987 New York Yankees.

Fernando Valenzuela (3-3) pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

The Phillies loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning before Trevor Hoffman got pinch-hitter Gary Varsho to pop out and Mickey Morandini to ground out. Hoffman earned his 25th save.

St. Louis 7, Cincinnati 3--The Cardinals won again against a division leader, this time when rookie Brian Barber gave up only one run in five innings at St. Louis and Brian Jordan extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

The Cardinals are 4-1 in beginning a 19-game stretch against pennant contenders Atlanta, Cincinnati and Colorado. The Cardinals won two of three from the Braves last weekend.

Barber (1-0) gave up five hits and four walks with two strikeouts in his five innings. The 22-year-old right-hander lasted only four innings in his major league debut Aug. 12.

“I wasn’t nervous about making a major league start, I was nervous about facing these guys,” Barber said.

Red starter Pete Schourek (13-7) lost in his bid to become the first in the NL to win 14 games.

Atlanta 6, Houston 4--Ryan Klesko hit a three-run double and Chipper Jones had a two-run single, both with two outs in the fifth inning, for the Braves at Houston.

Atlanta’s five-run inning extended the Astros’ losing streak to six games, equaling their longest of the season.

Klesko has driven in five runs in the last two games.

Mark Wohlers pitched the ninth inning and converted a team-record 19th consecutive save opportunity, retiring Craig Shipley on a grounder to end the game with runners on first and third bases.

San Francisco 5, New York 1--Robby Thompson and Glenallen Hill homered to support the four-hit pitching of Mark Leiter at New York.

The Mets’ five-game winning streak ended. The Giants broke a four-game losing skid.

Florida 8, Chicago 6--Steve Decker hit a two-run homer and Jeff Conine added a two-run double in the Marlins’ four-run second inning at Chicago.

The victory snapped Florida’s five-game losing streak.