Giants Do Better, but Brown Prevails

The San Francisco Giants fared much better in Saturday’s rematch against Florida Marlin pitcher Kevin Brown, who no-hit them in a 9-0 win on June 10.

They managed three hits and even scored a run.

They couldn’t beat Brown, though. Devon White hit two home runs, Moises Alou added a three-run homer and Brown cruised to an 8-1 victory at Miami.

J.T. Snow led off the fifth with a single, ending a streak of 14 consecutive hitless innings for the Giants against Brown (14-8).

“He’s probably the toughest guy we’ve faced over the last five years,” San Francisco Manager Dusty Baker said. “His ball moves as much as Greg Maddux’s, except it goes five or six mph faster. We didn’t have much of a chance today.”

The Giants, who on Friday overtook the Dodgers for sole possession of first place in the NL West for the first time in September, have a one-game lead.

Florida increased its lead over the Dodgers in the wild-card race to five games. The Marlins ended a three-game losing streak and San Francisco’s three-game winning streak.

After a 1-0 loss Friday to the Giants, the Marlins held a brief meeting. “It was time to say, ‘Let’s not wait for something good to happen. Let’s make it happen,’ ” Brown said.

The hard-throwing right-hander did just that. He struck out six, walked three and improved to 4-0 against San Francisco with a 0.61 ERA in five career starts.

“When you do well against a team, I’m not sure you want to know why,” Brown said. “You want to keep your mouth shut, keep doing the same things and hope it stays that way.”

Marvin Benard ended the shutout with a one-out homer in the ninth, his first since Aug. 30, 1996. Benard broke up Brown’s bid for a perfect game in June when he was hit by a pitch with two out in the eighth.

“Maybe if they’d keep him out of the lineup, I’d have a chance,” Brown joked.

White led off the game with a home run for the 30th time, which ranks fourth in major league history. Rickey Henderson holds the record with 71 leadoff homers.

Colorado 10, Atlanta 6--The Rockies won for the 14th time in 16 games and moved within six games of the NL West lead, rallying from a three-run deficit to defeat the Braves at Atlanta.

Colorado, which rallied from a ninth-inning deficit to win Friday night, trailed 5-2 before tying the score with two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth.

Dante Bichette hit a tie-breaking infield single in the seventh and Vinny Castilla followed with a two-run single. Colorado made it 10-5 in the eighth on Walt Weiss’ RBI double and Ellis Burks’ run-scoring single.

Denny Neagle, bidding for his 21st victory, was tagged for five runs and seven hits in six innings.

Chicago 4, Pittsburgh 1--The Pirates stumbled again as Steve Trachsel won on the road for the first time in nearly a year.

Pittsburgh’s chance to overtake first-place Houston in the NL Central continued to fade. The Pirates, who dropped 4 1/2 games back, have lost four of five and 13 of 18.

Trachsel (7-11) was 0-7 in 12 road starts before limiting the Pirates to five hits and an unearned run over seven innings--his first road victory since last Sept. 23, when he won in Pittsburgh, 4-3.

New York 9, Montreal 6--Carl Everett capped a six-run ninth inning with a game-tying grand slam, and Bernard Gilkey hit a three-run homer in the 11th as the Mets rallied from a 6-0 ninth-inning deficit at New York.

New York remained 5 1/2 games behind Florida, the wild-card leader, with 15 games remaining. Four of those are against the Marlins next weekend in Miami.

Butch Huskey and Carlos Baerga had consecutive one-out ninth-inning singles, pinch-hitter Roberto Petagine singled in two runs and reliever Shayne Bennett gave up a single to Luis Lopez. Ugueth Urbina came in and gave up single to Matt Franco that loaded the bases with two outs.

Everett pulled his first pitch foul deep down the right-field line, then worked the count to 3-2 and hit the third grand slam of his career.

Cincinnati 3, Philadelphia 0--Dave Burba gave up four hits in seven innings and Willie Greene homered as the Reds defeated the Phillies at Philadelphia.

Burba (9-10) gave up two hits in each of the first two innings and then retired 15 consecutive batters before Lenny Harris hit for him in the eighth. Burba struck out four and walked none.

Jeff Shaw pitched a perfect ninth for his 36th save in 42 chances, and his 11th in a row.

Mike Grace (3-1) retired his first 17 batters before Burba lined a single to center with two outs in the sixth inning. Grace gave up only two runs--one earned--and five hits, striking out a career-high 10 and walking one.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Devon White Florida 2 home runs Win Carl Everett New York Grand slam Win Bernard Gilkey New York Three-run homer Win

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PITCHING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Kevin Brown Florida 9 innings, 1 run, Win 3 hits, 6 strikeouts Dave Burba Cincinnati 7 innings, 0 runs, Win 4 hits, 10 strikeouts Steve Trachsel Chicago 7 innings, 1 run, Win 5 hits, 6 strikeouts

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