Error Opens Door, Finley Walks In, 2-1

Steve Finley tripled and scored on the play when the throw bounced past catcher Joe Siddall in the eighth inning Friday night, giving the San Diego Padres a 2-1 victory over the Florida Marlins at San Diego.

Finley led off with a triple, which right fielder Gary Sheffield retrieved. But Sheffield’s routine throw home skipped on one hop past Siddall.

Siddall was promoted from the minors Thursday when Charles Johnson was placed on the disabled list. The Marlins made a team-record six errors Thursday night in a 7-6, 14-inning victory over the Dodgers.

Trevor Hoffman (7-4) was the winner. Yorkis Perez (3-4) was the loser in the Marlins’ eighth defeat in 11 games.

Ken Caminiti led off the Padre fourth with a homer to left off Al Leiter estimated at 423 feet, his team-leading 20th homer of the year. It was his third in two games.

Padre starter Joey Hamilton gave up six hits in seven shutout innings, striking out five and walking three. He was removed for a pinch-hitter after throwing 114 pitches.

Florida had its best early scoring chance in the fourth when Sheffield was thrown out at home by left fielder Greg Vaughn while trying to score from second on Joe Orsulak’s two-out single.

Montreal 11, Cincinnati 1--Pedro Martinez shut out Cincinnati on two hits over eight innings and added two RBIs at Montreal.

Henry Rodriguez hit his 29th homer, drove in three runs and scored twice as the Expos ended the Reds’ three-game winning streak.

Martinez (9-6), who hit a two-run single in the third and doubled in the fifth, gave up a two-out double to Barry Larkin in the first before retiring 15 straight. Lenny Harris broke the string with a two-out, broken-bat single in the sixth.

Martinez, 1-3 in his previous six starts, struck out seven to lead Montreal to its sixth win in nine games.

Colorado 7, Chicago 2--Vinny Castilla and Andres Galarraga each homered at Chicago as the Rockies ended a five-game losing streak.

Kevin Ritz (12-7), who carried a shutout into the eighth inning before the Cubs scored a pair of runs, gave up two runs and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings, walking one and striking out six.

Houston 5, San Francisco 1--Doug Drabek won for the first time since the All-Star break as the Astros beat the Giants at Houston.

Drabek (5-7) had been 0-1 in four starts since beating Florida July 3. He gave up seven hits in seven innings and a run in the sixth when Barry Bonds tripled and Rick Wilkins hit a sacrifice fly.

Drabek, 5-0 against the Giants over the last three seasons, struck out five and walked three, one intentionally. Xavier Hernandez got five outs for his second save.

Mark Gardner (9-4), making his third start since coming off the disabled list, gave up five runs and 10 hits in six innings.

Pittsburgh 8, Philadelphia 3--Jeff King, who had only one hit in 25 at-bats coming into the game, sparked a five-run ninth with a two-run triple as the Pirates won at Philadelphia.

King singled and doubled before hitting the triple that put the Pirates up, 6-3. Mark Johnson followed with a run-scoring single and Dave Clark doubled in Johnson.

Marc Wilkins (2-0) gave up one hit in two innings of relief for the victory.

St. Louis 4, New York 3--Ron Gant hit a fifth-inning grand slam and Todd Stottlemyre beat the Mets for the third time this season at New York.

Gant’s slam followed Stottlemyre’s two-out single off Bobby Jones (9-7), Royce Clayton’s single and Ray Lankford’s walk. It was the fourth slam of Gant’s career, the second this season.

Stottlemyre (10-7) took a shutout into the eighth but gave up Bernard Gilkey’s 25th homer, a two-run drive. Stottlemyre gave up six hits in 7 2/3 innings, struck out four and walked two.