Streaks Continue for Padres, Flaherty

John Flaherty homered and extended his hitting streak to 21 games as the Padres won their fourth in a row Friday night, 4-3 over the Colorado Rockies at San Diego and took sole possession of first place in the NL West.

Flaherty’s streak ties for the longest in the league this season, matching teammate Steve Finley and Greg Colbrunn of Florida.

Ken Caminiti also homered for San Diego.

Fernando Valenzuela (6-7) worked six innings, giving up two runs and five hits. He struck out four and walked three.

Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth for his 20th save.

Flaherty put the Padres ahead, 3-2, in the fifth with a solo home run off Armando Reynoso (5-7). Flaherty connected for the second game in a row, and has hit six home runs since being traded by Detroit on June 18.

Andres Galarraga hit his 24th home run in the eighth off Padre reliever Doug Bochtler. Galarraga also had an RBI single in the first.

Caminiti hit a two-run homer in the first. It was his 17th overall and sixth in his last 14 games.

Houston 7, Atlanta 6--Darryl Kile pitched eight innings before needing help in the ninth and Derek Bell drove in three runs as the Astros snapped their five-game losing streak with the victory at Houston.

In front of 39,390, Houston’s largest crowd since Aug. 6, 1994, Kile (9-5) won his third decision in a row. He gave up five runs and eight hits, struck out seven and walked two.

Kile gave up Ryan Klesko’s 25th homer, a two-run shot that made it 7-4, and Mark Whiten’s single with no outs in the ninth, before needing relief help from Billy Wagner, who earned his fourth save.

Montreal 5, New York 4--Mike Lansing hit a solo homer in the seventh inning to cap the Expos’ rally from a four-run deficit as they beat the Mets at New York.

The Expos trailed, 4-0, after three innings but tied the score with one run in the fourth and three in the fifth off Jason Isringhausen (4-11).

With one out in the seventh, Lansing, who was two for four with two RBIs, hit his sixth home run.

Mike Dyer (5-2) pitched two innings of hitless relief and Mel Rojas, the Expos’ fifth pitcher, struck out the side in the ninth for his 14th save.

Florida 11, Philadelphia 2--Chris Hammond (3-5) won for the first time in more than two months, helping the Marlins to their fifth victory in a row, at Miami. Hammond gave up two runs and seven hits in five innings.

Devon White hit a grand slam in the eighth to highlight Florida’s six-run inning. It was his eighth homer of the season and fifth career grand slam.

Cincinnati 11, Pittsburgh 3--Pitcher Dave Burba homered for the second consecutive game and Barry Larkin went four for four as the Reds broke a four-game losing streak with the victory at Pittsburgh.

Larkin, who also walked, matched his career high for hits. Reggie Sanders, Jeff Branson and Hal Morris each drove in two runs.

Burba (5-9), who helped himself with a solo home run in the fifth off reliever Chris Peters, won for the fifth time in six starts. He gave up runs in each of the first two innings, then gave up only three singles in the next five innings.

St. Louis 9, Chicago 1--Alan Benes (10-5) struck out eight in five innings as the Cardinals beat the Cubs at Chicago in a game delayed more than three hours by rain.

Brian Jordan had a sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded walk, giving him 18 RBIs in his last eight games. Ozzie Smith and Ray Lankford each had three hits and Danny Sheaffer hit a solo home run for St. Louis, which has won 12 of its last 15.