Pirates Go Deep to Beat Cardinals

The Pittsburgh Pirates tied a major league record for grand slams in a game Tuesday when Orlando Merced and Jay Bell both connected to lead Pittsburgh to a 13-3 victory over the Cardinals at St. Louis.

Merced’s slam highlighted a six-run first and Bell’s slam in the sixth made it 12-0. Merced finished with five runs batted in and Jeff King had four of Pittsburgh’s 20 hits.

“I had no idea when Jay hit his that it tied a major league record,” Merced said. “I’m very happy and pleased that I was a part of it. This is one of the good things that happens probably only once in your life.”

The last team to hit two slams in a game was the Chicago White Sox last Sept. 5, both by Robin Ventura.

San Diego 10, Colorado 6--Andy Ashby tamed his ex-teammates with his arm and taunted them with his bat, with four hits to lead the Padres at Denver.

Ashby, who entered the game with a .142 career batting average, started three scoring rallies. He had two doubles and scored three runs. It was only the third four-hit game by a pitcher in the 1990s.

The Padres tied a club record with eight doubles. Jody Reed, Steve Finley and Wally Joyner also had two doubles. Reed had two RBIs and Marc Newfield hit a two-run homer.

Ashby, an expansion pick of the Rockies who was traded to San Diego in July 1993, had struggled in the past against his former team. But he held the Rockies to six hits--including three homers--and five runs in 6 2/3 innings, leaving with a 9-5 lead.

Chicago 6, Cincinnati 3--Steve Trachsel won in his first appearance of the season and Leo Gomez hit a two-run double in a six-run sixth inning at Chicago.

Trachsel gave up two hits in six innings, walked five and struck out four. He had spent two weeks with Double-A Orlando because the Cubs started the season with a four-man rotation.

Montreal 7, Philadelphia 6--Moises Alou singled home the winning run off Russ Springer with two outs in the ninth as the Expos overcame a 5-0 first-inning deficit at Montreal.

“Every time we get down we feel we can come back,” Moises Alou said. “We never gave up today.”

Lenny Dykstra and Mickey Morandini opened the game with consecutive homers off Jose Paniagua. Mark Whiten and Todd Zeile singled and Benito Santiago hit a three-run homer.

Montreal trailed, 6-2, in the sixth when Shane Andrews hit his second career grand slam, off Mike Grace.

Houston 9, New York 6--The Astros used left fielder Butch Huskey’s error and three stolen bases to score five runs in the fifth inning at New York.

Orlando Miller homered and had three hits for Houston, which took a 6-0 lead into the seventh.

Todd Hundley hit a three-run homer and Jeff Kent followed with a homer during a five-run seventh that closed the Mets to 6-5.

Shane Reynolds gave up seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, and Todd Jones pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save.

Atlanta 5, Florida 2--Ryan Klesko hit his seventh home run, a two-run drive in the second inning off Kevin Brown, who gave up all five runs and 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings at Atlanta.

Steve Avery gave up both runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings, walking five.