It’s a Good Thing That Gant Can’t Bunt

Ron Gant couldn’t get down a sacrifice bunt in two tries, so he hit a three-run in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday night to finish the Cardinals’ comeback and their 9-7 victory over San Francisco in St. Louis.

So much for Manager Tony La Russa’s role as Cardinal genius.

“We have a party fund where everybody puts in money so we can have a party on the road,” La Russa said. “I just fined myself $100 for being an idiot.”

Gant was trying to move along Dmitri Young and Delino DeShields, both of whom had singled off Giants’ closer Rod Beck, who was 11 for 11 in save situations and bearing down on a National League record for saves in April.

Beck (0-1) got two strikes on feeble foul bunts by Gant, then fell to 2 and 2.

“In that situation, you’re just battling, especially against a guy like that,” said Gant. “He’s got great control and has been a great reliever in this game for a while.”

But Beck’s control slipped.

“He hit a split-finger fastball that was up instead of down and away,” Beck said. “He’s so strong you can’t get away with that kind of pitch. It really hurts, because I was already ahead of him in the count.”

The homer finished off St. Louis’ rally from a six-run deficit and gave the Cardinals their third win in a row.

San Francisco has lost successive games for the first time this season.

Ray Lankford homered twice and went 4-for-4 with three RBIs for the Cardinals, who trailed, 7-1, in the seventh inning. Lankford’s home run off Giants starter Kirk Rueter was his first against a left-hander since Sept. 11, 1995.

Florida 2, San Diego 1--First, Bobby Bonilla defined Kevin Brown’s problem, then he fixed it with a two-out, two-run triple in the eighth inning that gave the Marlins a win at Miami.

Brown (3-1) gave up one run in eight innings and won for the first time since April 6. The Marlins have scored only 15 runs in six games for the right-hander, who had the worst run support in the major leagues last year.

Brown departed for pinch-hitter John Cangelosi in the bottom of the eighth inning, with Florida trailing, 1-0.

“I said to him when Cangelosi was batting, ‘You’re snakebit,’ ” Bonilla said.

After Cangelosi struck out, Edgar Renteria walked against Doug Bochtler and reliever Trevor Hoffman (0-2) walked Gary Sheffield, the seventh base on balls by a Padre pitcher.

Then Bonilla hit a ground ball over the first base bag and into the right-field corner.

New York 3, Cincinnati 1--Mark Clark pitched seven shutout innings and John Olerud had two RBI singles for the Mets, whose winning streak reached three games with a victory in Cincinnati.

Clark (3-1) won his third consecutive start by scattering seven hits and three walks while striking out three.

Reliever John Franco gave up Bret Boone’s sacrifice fly in the eighth inning but retired the side in order in the ninth for his fifth save in six chances.

The Mets two-game sweep in Cincinnati was their first in the city in a series of any length since 1991.

The Reds have lost 11 of their last 13 games for a 7-17 record that represents their worst start in 11 years.

Houston 3, Colorado 1--Donne Wall, called up from triple-A New Orleans last week, combined with Russ Springer, Tom Martin and John Hudek to limit the Rockies to seven hits and win in Houston.

Sean Berry and Jeff Bagwell homered for the Astros, who ended a three-game losing streak.

Wall (1-0) was sailing along with a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning, when he had to leave the game because of groin tightness after allowing five hits and striking out four. John Hudek pitched the ninth for his fourth save in as many opportunities.

Colorado was hurt by an error by Eric Young on a potential double-play ball in the second inning that led to the Astros’ first run. Craig Biggio walked, took second on Young’s error and scored on Bagwell’s single.

It was Young’s third error in three days.

Chicago 14, Montreal 8--Brooks Kieschnick, farmed out on March 26, drove in six runs with two homers and a single for the Cubs, who continued to rebound from their 0-14 start by winning in Chicago.

Kieschnick is batting .317, with three home runs and 10 RBIs as the starting left fielder since being recalled April 11.

The Cubs are 6-4 since setting NL records for season-starting futility. And they have been especially good in going 4-1 since Friday. In those five games, they have scored 37 runs compared to 53 in their first 19 games.

Aided by winds gusting up to 26 mph, the Expos got two home runs from Henry Rodriguez and one each from Darrin Fletcher, Mike Lansing and Shane Andrews.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Br. Kieschnick

Team: Chicago

Performance: 2 HR, single, 6 RBI

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Greg Gagne

Team: Dodgers

Performance: HR, 2 singles, RBI

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Ray Lankford

Team: St. Louis

Performance: 4 for 4, HR, 3 RBIs

Team’s Result: Win

PITCHING

Player: Kevin Brown

Team: Florida

Performance: 8 innings, 1 run, 7 hits, ERA now 1.96

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Mark Clark

Team: New York

Performance: 7 innings, 0 runs, 7 hits

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Sean Bergman

Team: San Diego

Performance: 6 innings, 0 runs, 5 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Loss