Pirates’ Streak Ended By Padres

Steve Finley and Greg Vaughn ended their slumps with solo home runs and the San Diego Padres ended the Pirates’ three-game winning streak with a 9-4 victory at Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Finley, who had only 11 hits in his last 67 at-bats, drove in three runs. Vaughn, in a one for 19 rut that included eight strikeouts, had three hits. San Diego’s Ken Caminiti hit his 17th home run and Tony Gwynn added a sacrifice fly, giving him 101 runs batted in.

Sterling Hitchcock (9-7) pitched five innings and gave up four runs and five hits.

Francisco Cordova (9-7) lost for only the third time in his last 15 starts. He lasted only 3 1/3 innings and gave up six runs, the last two coming on Finley’s triple.

Finley hit his 22nd home run in the first inning. After two walks, Vaughn hit an RBI single.

Montreal 3, St Louis 2--Mike Johnson got his first major-league win and combined with two Expo relievers on a two-hitter in a victory at Montreal.

Johnson (1-1), a 21-year-old Canadian, got his first big-league hit and scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning on Mike Lansing’s two-run double. Johnson limited St. Louis to an unearned run and two hits in six innings.

Anthony Telford struck out five of six and Ugueth Urbina closed out the two-hitter, pitching the ninth for his 20th save.

Houston 10, Colorado 4--Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio each homered and drove in two runs to lead the Astros at Houston.

Bagwell, who entered the game hitting .125 for the homestand, homered in the first inning and had a run-scoring double in a four-run second. Sean Berry added a two-run double in the second.

Chris Holt (8-9) gave up five hits in six innings and benefited from the Astros’ 15-hit attack. Holt helped himself with two hits and an RBI.

The Astros rocked Colorado starter Roger Bailey (9-9) and reliever Darren Holmes for six runs and nine hits in the first two innings.