Sanders Pitches Padres Back into First

Scott Sanders pitched 6 2/3 innings of no-hit ball and Ken Caminiti had a grand slam and six runs batted in as the Padres defeated the Montreal Expos, 7-3, Monday night at San Diego.

Darrin Fletcher broke up the no-hitter with a two-out single in the seventh. Sanders (6-4) worked eight innings, giving up two runs on three hits. He struck out eight and walked one.

Sanders had his no-hitter going a little longer than first thought after the official scorer changed a call in the bottom of the fifth.

Mike Lansing led off the fourth with a grounder that Caminiti failed to backhand at third. It was originally ruled a double, but scorer Phil Collier changed the play to a two-base error in the bottom of the fifth.

“I didn’t know they had changed a hit to an error,” Sanders said. “I heard everyone cheering after Fletcher got the hit. I looked up on the scoreboard and saw one hit and one error. I didn’t have a clue. It’s probably better that I didn’t know.”

Said Collier: “When I first made the call, I was very hesitant about it. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought he should have fielded it. I make mistakes like everybody else, but I think I called it a hit too quick.”

Trevor Hoffman earned his 29th save by getting the last out after the Expos put two runners on base.

Caminiti hit his career-high 27th homer with a grand slam in the first. It came off Pedro Martinez (10-8), who lasted a season-low 1 2/3 innings and gave up six runs and eight hits.

Colorado 6, Cincinnati 3--Larry Walker and Walt Weiss homered as the Rockies, who have lost seven of their last nine games, ended a poor trip with a victory at Cincinnati.

The Rockies were tied for second in the West Division, only one game out of first, when the trip began Aug. 9, but after going 4-7 they return to Denver solidly in third, only one game over .500 (63-62).

“Today was a must,” Colorado Manager Don Baylor said. “We got in a situation where he had to win a ballgame.”

Reds’ starter Mark Portugal (8-9) lasted two innings before leaving because of a sore elbow.

Florida 4, Chicago 3--Kevin Brown lowered his major league-leading earned-run average to 1.90 and got the 100th victory of his career in the Marlins’ win at Chicago.

“I hope to God the next 100 are a lot easier than the last ones,” said Brown (12-10), who gave up four hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked none. “I was pretty tired. I could have gone longer but when you have fresh arms in the bullpen and I had to run the bases and it was hot, there was no reason to.”

Gary Sheffield hit a two-run double and Luis Castillo had three hits for the Marlins.

San Francisco 5, New York 4--Barry Bonds hit a first-inning homer for the third consecutive game and Tom Lampkin hit a go-ahead single in the seventh inning in the Giants’ victory at San Francisco.

Bonds hit his 35th homer, a three-run drive following walks to Marvin Benard and Bill Mueller. Bonds has nine homers in his last 21 games.

Bernard Gilkey had four hits for the Mets, including three doubles and two runs batted in. Rod Beck pitched the ninth for his 27th save in 32 chances.

Houston 2, Pittsburgh 1--Ramon Morel walked Sean Berry with the bases loaded in the 13th inning to give the Astros a victory at Houston.

Brian Hunter doubled off Morel (2-1) leading off and Craig Biggio sacrificed. Jeff Bagwell and Derek Bell were intentionally walked before Berry won the game with the Astros’ team-record 14th walk of the night.