Day, Night the Same for Rockies

The Colorado Rockies were consistent Tuesday at Denver.

They blew a lead, then came back to win in the daytime. They blew a lead, then came back to win at night.

And daylight or artificial light made no difference to the pitchers in a doubleheader at Coors Field. Then again, it seldom does.

Both staffs were battered and Doug Henry perhaps worst of all. He was the losing pitcher in both games.

The Rockies took a six-run lead in the day portion of a day-night doubleheader, then had to rally to defeat New York, 10-7.

They blew a 7-0 lead in the night game, then had to rely on Eric Young’s run-scoring single off Henry (2-4) in the bottom of the ninth inning to win, 11-10.

Quinton McCracken’s single off Henry broke a 7-7 tie in the eighth inning of the first game, and he gave fortune some of the credit.

“I must have a four-leaf clover up my sleeve,” said McCracken. “It was a nasty slider in. I was just fortunate to get enough wood on the ball and it dinked in.”

Eric Young followed with an equally fortuitous hit. With the bases loaded and the Mets’ infield drawn in, Young hit a chopper over the head of second baseman Jose Vizcaino for two more runs.

San Diego 7, Houston 4--Mike Hampton gave up the go-ahead run in the fifth inning when he hit a batter with the bases loaded, and John Hudek balked home another Padres’ run in their victory at Houston.

San Diego’s John Flaherty extended his hitting streak to 24 games, best in the majors this season, with a second-inning single. Houston’s winning streak ended at four games.

The score was tied, 3-3, in the fifth inning when Steve Finley and Ken Caminiti singled and Rob Deer walked to load the bases. Archi Cianfrocco was hit by a pitch from Hampton for the go-ahead run.

Hampton was replaced by Hudek, who was charged with a balk on his first pitch when he flinched his arm, scoring Caminiti.

Atlanta 3, St. Louis 2--John Smoltz earned his major league-leading 17th victory, striking out 10 in the Braves’ victory at St. Louis.

Chipper Jones and Marquis Grissom for Atlanta, which improved to 5-0 at Busch Stadium.

Smoltz (17-4) gave up five hits and walked two in eight innings. He increased his strikeout total to 176, also best in the majors.

Chicago 9, San Francisco 6--Sammy Sosa hit two homers and drove in five runs for the Cubs at San Francisco.

Sosa broke a 5-5 tie with his league-leading 33rd homer, a three-run shot in a five-run seventh inning. An inning earlier, he hit a two-run homer.

In his past 15 games, Sosa has hit .338 with seven homers and 20 runs batted in.

Pittsburgh 5, Montreal 1--Pinch-hitter Mike Kingery hit a grand slam in the sixth inning and Jon Lieber pitched seven solid innings for the Pirates at Pittsburgh.

With the scored tied, 1-1, in the sixth inning, Pittsburgh loaded the bases with one out on a single by Jeff King, a walk to Charlie Hayes and a single by Jay Bell.

Kingery batted for Jermaine Allensworth and hit the second pitch he saw over the right-field wall.

Cincinnati 5, Philadelphia 3--Barry Larkin homered twice and drove in all five Reds’ runs in the victory at Philadelphia.

Joe Oliver opened the Cincinnati third inning with a single and was sacrificed to second. Lenny Harris singled with two outs and Larkin followed with his 15th home run.

Larkin homered in the eighth after a single by Harris, connecting again off Michael Mimbs (1-6).