Rockies’ Streak Hits Nine

Ellis Burks watched Mark McGwire take batting practice. Then he went out and matched McGwire homer for homer as the Colorado Rockies extended their winning streak to a franchise-high nine games, beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-4, Friday night at Denver.

Burks hit two home runs, had three runs batted in--as did Neifi Perez--for the Rockies. Andres Galarraga went three for four and drove in his 124th run.

“There are only a few guys that I like to watch,” Burks said. “I made it a point to watch McGwire today, because yesterday he almost hit my truck.”

McGwire went four for four and hit two long homers and drove in four runs for the Cardinals, who lost for only the third time in their last nine games. McGwire hit home runs of 478 and 462 feet, the seventh this year and 47th multi-homer game of his career.

“It was impressive to see Mark live up to his billing,” said Colorado shortstop Walt Weiss, a former teammate of McGwire’s. “They have been building him up for a whole week and he actually did it.”

Frank Castillo (11-11), acquired in a July 15 trade with the Chicago Cubs, won for the fifth time in seven decisions with the Rockies. Castillo gave up five hits and four runs, all coming on McGwire’s home runs.

San Francisco 4, Houston 1--Brian Johnson’s tie-breaking homer in the seventh lifted the Giants at San Francisco.

Johnson’s ninth homer of the season came off Shane Reynolds (6-10), who has lost his last four decisions and has not won since July 29.

Darryl Hamilton added a two-run single in the eighth to make it 4-1.

Roberto Hernandez (2-1) got five outs for the victory. Rod Beck pitched the ninth for his 35th save, tying New York’s John Franco for the National League lead.

Despite the loss, the Astros maintained their 3 1/2-game lead over second-place Pittsburgh in the NL Central. The Giants remained two games behind the Dodgers.

Cincinnati 8, Pittsburgh 6--Jon Nunnally hit a two-run single up the middle in the eighth inning at Cincinnati as the Reds handed the Pirates their ninth loss in the last 12 games.

Cincinnati’s Deion Sanders finished playing baseball for the season by asking out of the starting lineup. Sanders, bothered by a bulging disk in his back and a strained hip, will join the Dallas Cowboys to play football full time.

Red starter Gabe White gave up nine hits and four runs over six innings and got two strikeouts that will go down in the Pirates’ record books. The second whiff, by Garcia in the second inning, was the Pirates’ 1,012th of the season, a club record.

Montreal 7, Philadelphia 1--Rookie Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-run homer for the second time in as many nights and rookie Mike Johnson gave up one run in a career-high seven innings, as the Expos won at Montreal.

Guerrero, who triggered a three-run fourth with a leadoff single, gave Montreal a 5-1 lead in the fifth when he hit a 1-0 pitch from Mark Leiter (9-15) for his 11th homer.

Henry Rodriguez hit an RBI triple, rookie Jose Vidro added an RBI double and rookie Brad Fullmer had a run-scoring groundout in the fourth, helping Montreal win their fourth in a row. Doug Strange added a two-run homer for Montreal in the eighth.

Guerrero is six for 19 (.316) with three homers and six RBIs in his last five games.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Ellis Burks Colorado 2 HRs, 3 RBIs Win Mark McGwire St. Louis 4 for 4, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs Loss Ken Caminiti San Diego 3 for 3, HR, 2 RBIs Win

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PITCHING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Andy Ashby San Diego 9 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs Win Mike Johnson Montreal 7 innings, 1 run Win Frank Castillo Colorado 7 innings, 1 run Win

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