Colorado’s Ritz Avoids Rocky Start

This time, Kevin Ritz enjoyed his first trip to the mound.

“It made a big difference to take the mound with a four-run lead instead of being down 4-0 like my last start,” Ritz said after the Colorado Rockies defeated the Cardinals, 5-4, on Friday night at St. Louis.

Ritz (2-3) gave up two runs over seven innings. In his previous start, he gave up four runs in the first inning and lost.

“I had a lot of confidence going to the mound after that first inning,” Ritz said. “That helped me make some good pitches.”

This time it was the Rockies who scored four runs in the first inning, with the help of three walks and four singles off Cardinal starter Alan Benes (2-2). After Eric Young struck out, seven consecutive Rockies reached base on a walk or a single.

Andres Galarraga singled in one run, and Vinny Castilla singled home two more. Walt Weiss singled to drive in the final run of the inning.

Benes then retired 12 consecutive batters before Larry Walker hit his 10th homer with one out in the fifth. Walker had gone seven games without a home run, his longest stretch of the year.

Walker entered the game leading the NL in homers, and trailed Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. for the major-league lead. However, Griffey hit three Friday night at Toronto.

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Houston 5, San Francisco 4--Brad Ausmus’ run-scoring single with one out in the ninth inning at Houston gave the Astros their fifth consecutive victory.

With one out, Sean Berry drew a walk from Joe Roa (1-1) before Bob Abreu singled Berry to third. Ausmus then singled between shortstop and third base to score Berry.

It was the Giants’ first road loss of the season after five victories.

Billy Wagner (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings for the victory.

The Giants tied the score, 4-4, with two outs in the eighth. Jose Vizcaino reached on Pat Listach’s error and Glenallen Hill followed with a run-scoring triple off the right-field wall

Berry’s broken-bat infield single drove in Craig Biggio in the sixth inning to give Houston a 4-3 lead.

After the Astros loaded the bases off Mark Gardner in the sixth, the Giants brought in Julian Tavarez to face Berry. He hit a slow grounder between third and short that shortstop Vizcaino could not field in time to keep Biggio from scoring.

Chicago 11, Pittsburgh 1--Sammy Sosa drove in five runs and Ryne Sandberg hit a his first home run of the year to lead the Cubs over the Pirates, ending a seven-game home losing streak.

Sosa hit a two-run double in the sixth and a three-run homer in the eighth and Sandberg hit a two-run homer in the eighth. It was Sandberg’s 266th homers a second baseman (271st overall), tying him with Hall of Famer Joe Morgan for the most at that position.

Sosa’s five runs batted in matched his career best. He has had five RBIs nine times in his career, the last coming July 23 at San Francisco.

Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace each had three hits for the Cubs. Kevin Foster (2-1) threw a five-hitter for Chicago, which ended a three-game losing streak.

Montreal 4, New York 1--Carlos Perez pitched a six-hitter and F.P. Santangelo hit a three-run homer at Montreal as the Expos won their fifth consecutive.

Perez (3-1) improved to 11-3 in 18 appearances at Olympic Stadium. The left-hander struck out five, walked one and benefited from three double plays.

After David Segui reached on a fielder’s choice and Darrin Fletcher singled in the Expo fourth, Santangelo hit an 0-2 pitch off Bobby Jones into the right-field seats for his first homer of the season.

The Expos made it 4-0 in the eighth on Darrin Fletcher’s homer.

Perez lost his shutout in the ninth, when Edgardo Alfonzo doubled, went to third on a fly-out and scored on a groundout.

Philadelphia 10, Cincinnati 7--Mickey Morandini, Rico Brogna and Rob Butler each had three hits, leading the Phillies at Cincinnati and extending the Reds’ worst start in 11 years.

Mark Leiter (3-1) held the Reds’ struggling offense to eight hits and two runs over seven innings. Leiter has given up only four earned runs in his three road starts this season.

The Reds have lost five consecutive and nine of their last 10 because of ineffective starting pitching. Dave Burba (3-2) was rocked for seven runs on nine hits in only 4 2/3 innings, pushing the rotation’s earned-run average to 7.44.

Every Phillie starter except Scott Rolen had at least one hit. Rolen walked three times as the Reds added to their league-leading walk total to 105.

The Phillies set season highs in hits (15) and doubles (7). They also had a season-high six hits in the third, when they sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Sammy Sosa Chicago 3 for 5, double, homer, 5 RBIs Win Tony Gwynn San Diego 1 for 3, 2 RBIs, 11-game hitting streak Loss M. Morandini Philadelphia 3 for 5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, double Win

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PITCHING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Kevin Foster Chicago 9 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 5 strikeouts Win Denny Neagle Atlanta 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 5 strikeouts Win Carlos Perez Montreal 9 innings, 6 hits, 1 run, 5 strikeouts Win

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