Santiago Finds a Home With the Phillies

With Darren Daulton on the disabled list and probably near retirement, Benito Santiago, who has spent the last five seasons with four teams, may finally be in the right place at the right time.

Santiago hit a three-run homer off rookie relief pitcher Francisco Cordova and the Philadelphia Phillies overcame Jeff King’s two home runs and five runs batted in to beat the Pirates, 7-6, Wednesday at Pittsburgh.

Reliever Russ Springer struck out the side in the Pirates’ eighth inning--the last two batters with the bases loaded--before Ricky Bottalico finished off the Phillies’ two-game sweep by getting his third save.

The Phillies, who hadn’t swept a two-game series in Pittsburgh since April 17-18, 1979, trailed, 5-4, in the seventh before Todd Zeile and Mark Whiten singled off Jason Christiansen (1-1).

Santiago, signed after the Phillies realized Daulton’s days as a catcher were done, then hit a Cordova sinker over the left-field wall for his second homer.

“The Phillies called me and told me about the situation with Darren Daulton,” said Santiago, a four-time All-Star supposedly on the downside of his career. “I’m just trying to get myself back to where I was before. I wanted the opportunity to come here and let some people know I’m still around.”

Mike Grace (2-0) wasn’t as effective as he was in limiting the Rockies to a run in eight innings on April 3, but still won his second consecutive start. He gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings.

Colorado 10, Chicago 9--Larry Walker and Andres Galarraga delivered back-to-back RBI doubles with two outs in the eighth inning for the Rockies at Denver.

The Rockies trailed, 6-1, entering the bottom of the third inning before Ellis Burks and Galarraga each hit two-run homers to begin the comeback.

Mike Perez, the fifth Chicago pitcher, entered the game to protect the Cubs’ 9-8 lead and promptly hit Walt Weiss and Burks. Doug Jones (1-1) came on and got Dante Bichette to ground into a double play. But Walker and Galarraga followed with doubles to send Colorado to its 200th franchise victory.

Cincinnati 9, New York 7--Eddie Taubensee drove in four runs and Eric Davis doubled home the tie-breaking run in the seventh inning for the Reds, who rallied to win at home.

The Mets’ pitching staff walked 11 batters--four shy of the club record--and wasted a four-run first inning and a four-hit performance by Bernard Gilkey.

San Francisco 11, Houston 5--Glenallen Hill hit two homers, including the fourth grand slam of his career, and Barry Bonds also drove in five runs for the Giants in a victory at Houston.

Hill’s grand slam highlighted a six-run fourth inning as the Giants gave rookie Osvaldo Fernandez (2-0) his second win. Hill added a solo homer in the ninth, his third.

St. Louis 4, Montreal 1--Alan Benes pitched a four-hitter in the fifth start of his career to win at St. Louis.

Benes (1-0), the younger brother and teammate of Andy Benes, took a shutout into the ninth inning before Rondell White led off with a homer. Benes struck out 11--six looking--and walked two in his first complete game.

San Diego 3, Florida 0--Bob Tewksbury and two relievers combined on a five-hitter, and Brad Ausmus hit a two-run single in the first inning as the Padres won at home.

The Marlins got runners to second only twice against Tewksbury (2-0), who made his home debut. The right-hander, noted for his offspeed pitches and control, gave up only four hits in seven innings, struck out five and walked two. He joined the Padres as a free agent in December after spending one season with Texas.