Giants Regain Their Winning Touch

Brian Johnson hit a two-run homer and Shawn Estes defeated New York for the third time this season as the San Francisco Giants beat the Mets, 7-1, Monday night at New York.

The Giants broke a season-high three-game losing streak and the Mets lost for the 11th time in 16 games.

Johnson, acquired July 16 from Detroit, has hit three of his seven homers this season against New York. The catcher has 21 career homers in four years, seven against Met pitchers.

Like Johnson, Estes (17-4) has also had great success against the Mets. He improved to 4-0 in his career against New York, including victories in all three starts this season. He gave up six hits and one run in 6 2/3 innings.

“I feel more comfortable after a loss. I go out there feeling like we’re due,” said Estes, 9-0 this season after the Giants lose.

“When you don’t lose a lot of games in a row, you don’t lose confidence as a team and you feel like these guys want to win today and are going to do anything they can to get it done.”

Estes walked three, struck out seven and threw three wild pitches. He also had two hits and scored a run.

Jose Vizcaino singled with two outs in the second off Bobby Jones (13-8) and Johnson followed with an opposite-field homer to right-center.

Estes left after consecutive infield singles with two outs in the seventh. Roberto Hernandez relieved and got Bernard Gilkey on a groundout to end the inning.

Hernandez and Rod Beck pitched hitless relief over the final 2 1/3 innings.

Montreal 2, St. Louis 1--Pedro Martinez took a two-hit shutout into the ninth inning and lowered his major league-leading earned-run average to 1.61, leading the Expos over the Cardinals at St. Louis.

“He’s got four strikeout pitches and most pitchers don’t,” St. Louis catcher Tom Lampkin said. “He can strike you out with a change-up, his fastball, or his breaking ball. He’s dominating, and he was dominating tonight.”

Martinez was pleased with his performance.

“It went pretty good,” he said. “I had command of all my pitches and I was able to get ahead of everybody early. That made my day easier.”

Martinez (15-6) struck out 13 in 8 2/3 innings, reaching double digits for the 14th time this season and the 22nd time overall, raising his season total to 245.

Chicago 3, Florida 1--Doug Glanville hit a two-run, bases-loaded single in the seventh inning and the Cubs ended Alex Fernandez’s six-game winning streak with a victory over the Marlins at Chicago.

Kevin Tapani (3-3) gave up seven hits and one run in seven innings for the victory, beating his former teammate--both he and Fernandez pitched for the Chicago White Sox last season.

“You don’t want to tip your cap too much to Alex,” Tapani said. “We came through. It was nice to win against these guys.”

Philadelphia 10-6, San Diego 1-4--Mike Lieberthal had three hits with four runs batted in and the Phillies used a seven-run fifth inning to win the first game and Rico Brogna homered and drove in two runs to help the Phillies sweep at Philadelphia.

Midre Cummings had six hits in the doubleheader, getting his first four-hit game in the opener and driving in two runs.

Ron Blazier (1-1) got the win with two innings of relief in the second game, and Ricky Bottalico worked a perfect ninth for his 24th save as five pitchers combined on a five-hitter, sending San Diego to its sixth loss in eight games.

Andy Ashby (6-10), who gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings, is 0-4 since July 20.

Mark Leiter (9-13) won the first game, giving up 10 hits and striking out nine in his second complete game of the season. Will Cunnane (6-3) gave up four runs and six hits in four-plus innings.

Cincinnati 7-6, Colorado 6-4--Chris Stynes had four hits and two runs batted in and Jon Nunnally had three hits, leading the Reds to a sweep of their day-night doubleheader at Denver.

In the opener, Reggie Sanders and Bret Boone hit two-run homers as the Reds jumped out to a seven-run lead and then hung to win. Todd Helton and Larry Walker had solo homers to spark Colorado’s comeback.

The Rockies had their 194th and 195th consecutive sellouts and became the first team this season to draw 3 million fans.

In the second game, the Reds used a walk and three consecutive hits in the first inning to score two runs off Mark Hutton (3-2). Stynes had an RBI double and Eduardo Perez added a run-scoring single.

Jeff Shaw pitched the ninth in both games, recording his 26th and 27th saves in 33 opportunities. Helton hit another solo homer off Shaw in the second game, and Colorado loaded the bases before Walker grounded into a game-ending double play.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Chris Stynes

Team: Cincinnati

Performance: 4 for 5, 2 RBIs (2nd game)

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Joe Randa

Team: Pittsburgh

Performance: 2 for 4, game-winning homer (2nd game)

Team’s Result: Win

PITCHING

Player: Pedro Martinez

Team: Montreal

Performance: 8 2/3 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 13 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Mark Leiter

Team: Philadelphia

Performance: 9 innings, 10 hits, 1 run, 9 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Shawn Estes

Team: San Francisco

Performance: 6 2/3 innings, 6 hits, 1 run, 7 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Kevin Tapani

Team: Chicago

Performance: 7 innings, 7 hits, 1 run, 4 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win