Giants Rally, Move Into Tie With Dodgers

They came a long way for a big victory, then didn’t have much time to enjoy it.

Flying into Philadelphia from San Francisco to make up a rainout, the Giants came from behind for a 5-3 victory over the Phillies on Thursday that moved them into a first-place tie with the idle Dodgers in the NL West with 16 games left.

The Giants then flew to Florida for a three-game series that stars tonight against the Marlins.

“We didn’t want to come 2,000-something miles to lose,” Manager Dusty Baker said. “We wanted to start the road trip with a win.”

Jeff Kent’s two-run homer in the ninth inning was the decisive blow as the Giants won for the fifth time in six games.

Trailing 3-0 after six innings, the Giants finally scored in the seventh against Phillie starter Curt Schilling, who struck out six--leaving him four short of 300. Schilling, however tried to stop a hard-hit ball by J.T. Snow with his pitching hand in the inning and was lifted for a pinch-hitter.

New York 9, Montreal 5--John Olerud hit for the cycle and drove in five runs at New York.

Olerud hit an RBI double in the first, a single in the third, a solo homer in the seventh and a bases-loaded triple in the eighth.

Olerud is the seventh Met to hit for the cycle, and the first to do it at Shea Stadium since Tommie Agee on July 6, 1970. Alex Ochoa hit for the cycle at Philadelphia on July 3, 1996.