Snow’s Homer Helps Giants Keep Pace

Scoreboard watching isn’t J.T. Snow’s idea of being in a pennant race. He has no problem with hitting important home runs, though.

Snow broke out of a slump with a three-run homer and Wilson Alvarez got his third victory for San Francisco, leading the Giants to a 6-2 victory over the skidding New York Mets on Tuesday night at New York.

Snow’s sixth-inning drive sent the Giants to their eighth win in 10 games against New York this season, and kept them a half-game behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

The shot off Rick Reed (10-8) broke a 1-1 tie, and ended an 0-for-10 slide for Snow, who hadn’t homered since Aug. 8. Snow had been benched for Monday night’s series opener by Manager Dusty Baker, who wanted his first baseman to regain his focus.

“Real big home run,” Baker said. “He’s come through with some big hits and that was a real big hit.”

Snow, who entered the game batting .146 with no homers and six RBIs in his previous 12 games, said he was upset when he didn’t see his name in the starting lineup Monday.

“I think at this part of the year you just want to contribute and do something positive,” he said.

Did the day off help?

“It looks good now,” Snow said, “but I wanted to be in there yesterday.”

Meanwhile, the Mets continued their slide from playoff contention with their 12th loss in 17 games.

“Now we have to win 12 of 17,” said New York Manager Bobby Valentine, reportedly close to signing a new contract with the club.

Alvarez (3-1), making his fifth start for the Giants since he was traded by the Chicago White Sox on July 31, gave up six hits in six innings.

Alvarez hadn’t pitched since leaving in the fifth inning Aug. 17 against Montreal because of tightness in his shoulder.

Florida 11, Chicago 0--Unbeaten rookie Livan Hernandez combined with two relievers on a four-hitter to win his eighth consecutive decision and Jeff Conine homered twice as the Marlins defeated the Cubs at Chicago.

Conine drove in five runs and Gary Sheffield and Moises Alou also homered for the Marlins, who had 17 hits and improved to 8-1 against the Cubs in their most lopsided victory of the year.

Florida remained four games ahead of San Francisco in the NL wild-card race.

Hernandez (8-0), a 22-year-old right-hander who defected from Cuba in 1995, gave up two hits in six innings and has doubled the previous Florida record for victories without a loss to start a season. He walked three and struck out six.

Montreal 7, St. Louis 5--Rondell White hit a go-ahead three-run homer off Dennis Eckersley with two out in the eighth inning as the Expos rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Cardinals at St. Louis.

Donovan Osborne didn’t give up a hit until Vladimir Guerrero’s leadoff single in the seventh, then was chased in the eighth.

Chris Widger hit an RBI double in the seventh, Mike Lansing hit an RBI double in the eighth that finished Osborne and Guerrero hit a run-scoring single off Curtis King that pulled Montreal to 5-3.

Atlanta 7, Houston 6--Javy Lopez homered off Billy Wagner with two out in the 11th inning as the Braves beat the Astros at Atlanta after wasting a six-run lead.

Wagner (7-6), who entered the game in the 10th, struck out Danny Bautista and Andruw Jones before giving up Lopez’s team-leading 20th homer.

Brad Clontz (5-1), recalled earlier in the day from triple-A Richmond, escaped a bases-loaded jam in the 10th by striking out Billy Spiers.

Atlanta, which remained 4 1/2 games ahead of second-place Florida in the NL East, won for the fifth time in six games. Houston, the NL Central leader, is three games ahead of second-place Pittsburgh despite losing seven of 11.

Colorado 9, Cincinnati 5--Jeff Reed hit a three-run homer in the eighth and Vinny Castilla hit a pair of home runs as the Rockies ended a three-game losing streak in the game at Denver.

Pedro Martinez (1-1) allowed a single to Dante Bichette and walked Ellis Burks before giving way to Scott Sullivan, who gave up Reed’s 11th home run with one out in the eighth. Walt Weiss followed with an RBI double.

Mike DeJean (4-0) pitched a scoreless eighth and Jerry Dipoto got the final three outs.

Castilla drove in three runs and has 35 homers this season.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

*--*

Player Team Performance Team’s Result Jeff Conine Florida 2 home runs, 5 RBIs Win Rondell White Montreal 3-run home run Win J.T. Snow San Francisco 3-run home run Win

*--*

PITCHING

*--*

Player Team Performance Mike Grace Philadelphia 7 innings, 2 runs, 6 hits, 3 strikeouts Livan Hernandez Florida 6 innings, 2 hits, 6 strikeouts

Player Team’s Result Mike Grace Win Livan Hernandez Win

*--*