NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Cardinals Continue to Torment Rockies

When the season’s accounting is done, if the Colorado Rockies fall short in a bid to win the NL West title or make the playoffs as a wild-card team, there will be no problem fixing blame.

Put it in Denver, but the Cardinals have to be there. Or in St. Louis, where the teams played Friday night.

Ray Lankford’s eighth-inning home run tied the score and Bernard Gilkey’s single snapped it as the Cardinals rallied from a three-run deficit for a 5-4 victory over Colorado. St. Louis has taken four in row over the Rockies, including a sweep last weekend in Denver.

“I don’t know where the spark is,” Rocky Manager Don Baylor said. “We’re in the pennant race and they’re not.

“This is when the games really count, and we’ve got to be able to put teams away.”

The Cardinals are a distant fourth in the NL Central but have won 10 of their last 14. They’re also 7-3 against Colorado.

“I’ll tell you what, it feels good to be beating up on somebody else,” Lankford said.

Colorado’s Dante Bichette homered and had three RBIs, topping 100 for the first time in his career.

Bichette had a run-scoring groundout in the fourth inning and hit a two-run home run off Mark Petkovsek in the sixth. He leads the league with 33 home runs and 102 RBIs and is batting .359 (28 for 78) his last 18 games.

Houston 7, Florida 3--Jeff Bagwell, in his first game off the injury list, drove in the tying run in the Astros’ three-run seventh inning as they rallied to win in Houston.

Bagwell, sidelined since July 30 because of a broken bone in his left hand, went two for four in his first game back. His night’s work included a single in the three-run seventh inning that scored Brian Hunter, tying the score, 3-3, off reliever Richard Garces (0-1).

After reliever David Weathers walked pinch-hitter James Mouton, Dave Magadan’s grounder scored Craig Biggio with the go-ahead run. Bagwell scored the third run in the inning on John Cangelosi’s infield hit, a perfectly placed bunt down the first-base line.

Cincinnati 7, Pittsburgh 1--Pete Schourek retired 16 Pittsburgh batters in a row at Cincinnati in beating the Pirates for the third time this season.

Schourek (15-7) matched Atlanta’s Greg Maddux for the National League lead by giving up five hits and two walks over 7 2/3 innings.

Pittsburgh has managed only four runs and 14 hits off Schourek in 23 innings.

Bret Boone had three hits, Reggie Sanders hit a solo homer, and a pair of rapid-succession errors by catcher Angelo Encarnacion helped Cincinnati pull away to its sixth victory in eight games.

Chicago 7, Atlanta 5--Jim Bullinger halted a personal three-game losing streak and Shawn Dunston singled in two runs to spark the Cubs to a victory at Atlanta.

Ryan Klesko had two homers and four RBIs for Atlanta.

Bullinger (11-5) worked 6 1/3 innings, giving up five runs and six hits, in helping the Cubs win their first of four games in Atlanta. The Cubs are 3-7 overall against the Braves.

San Francisco 6, New York 5--Met closer John Franco (5-3) gave up a two-run homer to Matt Williams in the eighth inning that tied the score, 5-5, and a solo homer to Glenallen Hill in the ninth that gave the Giants a victory in San Francisco.

San Diego 6, Philadelphia 3--Archi Cianfrocco homered with two on base in a five-run fifth inning in San Diego to give the Padres’ Fernando Valenzuela (5-3) a victory in his second consecutive decision as a starter.