NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : With a Surprise Move, Rockies Beat Reds, 5-4

Nobody expected it, least of all Colorado Manager Don Baylor.

Larry Walker, acting on his own, bunted for a base hit, scoring Eric Young with the decisive run in the seventh inning, as the Colorado Rockies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4, Sunday at Coors Field.

The Rockies, winning their fourth consecutive game, remained less than one percentage point ahead of the Dodgers in the National League West race. Colorado is .5323 while the Dodgers, who beat Pittsburgh, 5-4, are .5317. The Dodgers have played two additional games.

With one out in the seventh, Young drew a walk from Hector Carrasco (2-7) and took second on a wild pitch. Mike Jackson retired Mike Kingery, but Dante Bichette got an infield single. Walker then laid a bunt down the third-base line and beat it out, with Young scoring from third.

“It caught everybody by surprise--the pitcher, third baseman, everybody,” Baylor said. “It caught me by surprise. I remember only one other time seeing that play in a clutch situation. Frank Robinson did it in a pennant race. It was pretty important.”

Walker said he thought about bunting for a hit while in the on-deck circle.

“I’ve seen Brett Butler do it a few times, and I saw Dante [Bichette] do it,” Walker said.

“If it works, good. If not, it will roll foul and I’ve still got two strikes left. I tried to peek over at the third baseman [Jeff Branson], and he didn’t move in any. It wouldn’t have taken a perfect bunt. I think anything down there would have done it.”

San Francisco 8, Chicago 7--Deion Sanders tied his career high with four hits to help the Giants keep alive their slim postseason hopes as they completed a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field.

Sanders doubled, singled three times and scored twice. He is batting .333 during the last 29 games.

But he wasn’t the only one to hurt the Cubs. Ex-Cub Glenallen Hill homered, doubled, drove in two runs and scored twice.

The Giants, who have won nine of 12, remained 5 1/2 games back in the NL West and still trail five teams in the wild-card race.

New York 6, Montreal 2--Carl Everett and Jeff Kent hit consecutive home runs during a five-run third inning to help the Mets complete a sweep of the three-game series at Montreal.

Rookie Jason Isringhausen (6-2) gave up two runs in the first then settled down to stop the Expos. He pitched seven innings and yielded eight hits, struck out six and walked none in winning his fourth consecutive decision dating to Aug. 20.

Houston 5, Philadelphia 4--Craig Biggio scored twice and drove in the winning run, his career-high 65th RBI, to lead the Astros at Philadelphia.

Biggio’s sacrifice fly scored Ricky Gutierrez and broke a 4-4 tie in the sixth inning.

Doug Drabek (9-8) shut out the Phillies after yielding four runs and four hits in the first inning.