Gaetti’s Bat Contributes to Giant Slide

Gary Gaetti continued his second-half surge with a home run, two doubles and three RBIs as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-2, Monday night at St. Louis.

The Cardinals took three of four from the NL West leaders, who are 4-8 since the All-Star break. In 12 games since the break, Gaetti has six of his 12 home runs, 13 RBIs and is batting .413 (19-for-46). He lined out to deep left in the seventh in his final at-bat.

It was a strange series finale, with Giant leadoff hitter Darryl Hamilton and Manager Dusty Baker ejected after the first out for arguing a called third strike and the Cardinals announcing in the fourth that they were playing the game under protest because the Giants’ Bill Mueller was listed twice on their lineup card.

Television cameras caught the discrepancy by zooming in on St. Louis Manager Tony La Russa’s hand during a lengthy discussion with all four umpires.

Matt Morris (7-6) won for the first time in four starts, allowing five hits, striking out six and walking five to lower his ERA to 2.73. The Giants got their first run off him after the protest as Morris walked the next batter, Bill Mueller, on four pitches to load the bases and, two batters later, walked pinch hitter Damon Berryhill.

Brian Johnson hit a solo homer for San Francisco in the ninth

Morris helped himself at the plate, going two for three with an RBI single. He’s 10 for 42 (.238) with four RBIs.

Giant starter Keith Foulke lasted only two innings, allowing six runs on nine hits. The Cardinals got three runs on five hits in the first, including Gaetti’s home run and an RBI single by Delino DeShields.

Hamilton’s early ejection meant the end of a 14-game hitting streak. He was 22 for 55 during the streak.

San Diego 10, Florida 2--It took an outfielder on the mound to slow down Wally Joyner and the Padres. Joyner went three for four with two walks and led a barrage against All-Star Kevin Brown and the Marlins at Miami.

Joyner singled, doubled, tripled and had a shot at the cycle in the ninth inning. But he flied out to center field against outfielder John Cangelosi, who allowed only a walk in a scoreless ninth.

“He ain’t going to hit a home run off a 72-mph fastball,” Cangelosi joked. “You’ve got to generate a lot of bat speed.”

Cangelosi, a lefty, became the first position player to pitch for the Marlins. The 12-year veteran, who also pitched for Pittsburgh in 1988 and Houston in 1995, has allowed only one hit and no runs in four career innings.

“He’s still got no ERA!” Marlin teammate Bobby Bonilla said.

Joyner drove in a run, scored twice and stole two bases, swiping home on the back end of a double steal. His average climbed to .345.

Tony Gwynn drove in a run with an infield single for the Padres, ending his longest hitless stretch of the season at 11 at-bats. He went 1-for-5 and finished the four-game series 2-for-17, dropping his average to .385.

Sterling Hitchcock (6-5) gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings en route to his first victory since May 31. The left-hander returned from the disabled list July 3 after being sidelined for four weeks with a strained elbow.

Florida’s Gary Sheffield, limited to pinch-hitting duty the past week with a strained hamstring, rejoined the lineup and hit his 12th home run, a solo shot in the fourth inning.

Pittsburgh 3, Philadelphia 2--Curt Schilling made a lot of good pitches--as evidenced by his career-high 15 strikeouts--and regretted only one. Unfortunately for Schilling, the bad one outweighed the good ones when Kevin Polcovich drove Schilling’s mistake over the left-field wall for a solo homer that snapped a 2-2 tie in the seventh.

The homer came two pitches after Polcovich couldn’t bunt a wide pitch during an attempted suicide squeeze. After Polcovich missed the pitch, runner Keith Osik was tagged out halfway between home and third.

Schilling’s 15 strikeouts is the most by any NL pitcher this season. Randy Johnson of Seattle struck out a major league-high 19 on June 24 and also lost, 4-1, to Oakland. Jeff Juden and Pedro Martinez held the previous NL this year of 14.

“My goal is to win,” said Schilling, who increased his league-leading strikeout total to 191. “Strikeouts didn’t help me win today. To strike out 15 and lose doesn’t mean that much.”

Montreal 8, Colorado 4--Henry Rodriguez broke out of a seven-for-76 slump with a two-out, ninth-inning grand slam at Montreal as the Expos rallied to snap a three-game losing streak.

Rodriguez, who was 0 for four in the game and hitless in his previous 13 at-bats, hit a one-two pitch off Darren Holmes (3-2) just inside the foul pole in right field for his 19th home run.

Ugueth Urbina (3-6) pitched a perfect ninth for the win.

Colorado lost for the 16th time in its last 18 games.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Carl Everett

Team: New York

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

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Wally Joyner

Team: San Diego

Performance: 3 for 4, single, double, triple

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Gary Gaetti

Team: St. Louis

Performance: 3 for 4, home run, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs

Team’s Result: Win

PITCHING

Player: Curt Schilling

Team: Philadelphia

Performance: 8 innings, 15 strikeouts, 6 hits, 1 walk

Team’s Result: Lose

*

Player: Matt Morris

Team: St. Louis

Performance: 7 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 6 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: S. Hitchcock

Team: San Diego

Performance: Off disabled list, 5 1/3 innings, 2 runs

Team’s Result: Win