Bagwell’s 1,000th Hit Leads Astros, 9-5

Nobody can accuse Jeff Bagwell of tiptoeing into the Houston Astros’ exclusive 1,000-hit club.

Bagwell smashed his way in Monday night against the Phillies at Philadelphia, becoming the 10th man in Astro history to get 1,000 hits with the first of two home runs that gave him 14 for the season, tying Colorado’s Larry Walker for the National League lead.

Bagwell’s first homer started a four-run sixth inning that gave Houston an eight-run lead en route a 9-5 victory.

“If you’re going to get it, you might as well get it that way,” said Bagwell, whose landmark homer was the third of the night off Calvin Maduro (3-5).

Houston’s Darryl Kile (4-2) gave up one run and six hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked two, lowering his earned-run average to 2.06. His string of 18 scoreless innings ended when Rico Brogna hit a solo homer in the sixth. Brogna added a three-run homer in the eighth off John Hudek.

Craig Biggio and Sean Berry each homered and each drove in two runs for the Astros.

New York 4, Colorado 3--John Olerud, the league’s top hitter with runners in scoring position, lined a two-run homer with one out in the ninth inning at New York for the game-winner.

It didn’t appear such heroics would be necessary. New York starter Armando Reynoso had a no-hitter for 6 2/3 innings. In their 36 years of existence, the Mets had played 5,573 games prior to Monday, and none of those games had ended with a no-hitter for New York.

This one didn’t either.

Jeff Reed broke up Reynoso’s bid with a solo homer in the seventh. Andres Galarraga then smacked a two-run single in the eighth that put Colorado ahead, 3-2.

But Olerud hit his seventh homer off Jeff McCurry (1-1), and raised his average with runners in scoring position to .550 (22 for 40).

McCurry was trying for his first save of the season and his first in the majors since 1995 when he was a Pittsburgh Pirate.

Cory Lidle (2-0) got the victory as New York won its third consecutive and seventh in nine games. The loss was the Rockies’ third in a row.

Atlanta 7, St. Louis 3--Chipper Jones, in a four-for-21 slump, homered and double and drove in four runs at Atlanta off Todd Stottlemyre as the Braves completed a four-game sweep of St. Louis and improved to 30-13, the top record in the majors and the best start in franchise history.

“There’s no way you can understand it,” said Jones, who is five for 12 with three homers against Stottlemyre. “I don’t know why. It just seems like whenever he makes a mistake, I hit it.”

Said Stottlemyre: “I’ve had a couple of good days with Chipper, but he always seems eager to see me.”

Denny Neagle (7-0) joined New York’s Bobby Jones and Montreal’s Pedro Martinez as the only seven-game winners in the NL.

Atlanta’s Michael Tucker went three for four with a single, double and triple in extending his hitting streak to seven games, scored three runs, drove in another and made a diving catch to stave off a potential St. Louis rally.

“What a catch. All I can say is what a great catch. It was one of the best I’d ever seen,” Neagle said. “It was a flat out, full-length diving catch. If it gets by, it’s a triple. He had a night.”

Stottlemyre (2-3) dropped to 0-4 against Atlanta.

The Cardinals have lost eight of nine.

Chicago 15, San Francisco 4--Scott Servais drove in five runs at Chicago to match his career high, but the Cubs also got plenty of help from the Giants, who made four errors that led to four unearned runs.

Servais hit a run-scoring double in the second, a run-scoring groundout in the third and a three-run homer in the sixth. He also drove in five runs at Colorado on April 8, 1996.

Since starting the season 0-14, Chicago is 15-13.

“You may be witnessing the greatest comeback in major league history,” Cub first baseman Mark Grace said. “I’m not kidding.”

Every starting position player had at least two hits for Chicago, which handed San Francisco its fourth loss in its last five games.

Steve Trachsel (2-4) won for the first time in four starts, giving up three runs and nine hits in seven innings.

Losing pitcher Osvaldo Fernandez (3-4) gave up six runs in three innings, but only half of those were earned.

Giant second baseman Jeff Kent, frustrated by two calls, was ejected by second-base umpire Ed Montague in the third inning.

“I think the water started to boil,” Kent said. “We were down four, five, six runs by then and it was only the third inning. My blood flows a little hot.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Steve Finley

Team: San Diego

Performance: 3 for 5, 3 homers, 3 RBIs, 3 runs

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Jeff Bagwell

Team: Houston

Performance: 2 for 4, 2 homers, 2 RBIs, 3 runs

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Scott Servais

Team: Chicago

Performance: 2 for 4, 5 RBIs, homer, double

Team’s Result: Win

PITCHING

Player: Darryl Kile

Team: Houston

Performance: 7 innings, 1 run, 8 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Jeff Juden

Team: Montreal

Performance: 8 innings, 1 run, 7 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Denny Neagle

Team: Atlanta

Performance: 6 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win