Power Surge, Stottlemyre Carry Cardinals

Shane Andrews liked the first pitch he saw. Trouble was, Mark McGwire and Ron Gant liked theirs too.

McGwire and Gant each hit two-run homers and Todd Stottlemyre struck out 10 Tuesday night, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-3 victory over the Expos at Montreal.

McGwire’s second-inning homer--his ninth of the year and first on the road--was a 437-foot shot off the first pitch from Trey Moore (1-2). The ball passed just to the right of the left-field bleachers and would have cleared them if they extended that far.

“It was a really good win,” McGwire said. “We got some early runs. They came back with a big home run and we came right back. That was the key, us coming back after they scored three.”

Andrews hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning to give Montreal a 3-2 lead.

Delino DeShields doubled twice and went four for four for the Cardinals.

Stottlemyre (3-0) retired 10 consecutive batters after giving up a hit and walk to lead off the fifth inning. He was relieved by Juan Acevedo when he gave up a two-out single in the eighth.

“This has been a pretty tough place for me to pitch,” Stottlemyre said. “In 1996, I got beat up twice and in 1997 I took a ball off the noggin. To get out of here with a win feels pretty good.”

Jeff Brantley pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save.

Cincinnati 6, Philadelphia 3--Last-minute replacement Dmitri Young had a two-run single as the Reds beat Curt Schilling and handed the Phillies their sixth consecutive loss at Philadelphia.

Young filled in for center fielder Reggie Sanders, who fell down the dugout steps during batting practice and injured his right ankle.

Schilling (2-2) gave up three runs on seven hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out 11, boosting his NL-leading total to 52.

Brett Tomko (3-1) gave up three runs and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings, and Jeff Shaw pitched 1 2/3 innings for his sixth save. Shaw has retired the last 15 batters he has faced and has saves in six of the Reds’ nine victories.

San Francisco 6, Pittsburgh 3--The Giants broke out of their homer slump as Barry Bonds and Brent Mayne hit home runs off winless Jon Lieber at Pittsburgh.

Until Bonds’ solo shot in the third and Mayne’s two-run drive in the fifth, the Giants had an league-worst eight homers in 18 games--or as many as Lieber (0-3) has permitted in four starts.

Mark Gardner (2-1) limited the slumping Pirates to six hits in his first complete game since Aug. 8 and had two singles as the Giants broke a four-game losing streak that saw them score only five runs.

The Pirates lost their seventh consecutive game, or one more than their longest streak of a year ago. The streak is their longest since a seven-game slide June 10-16, 1993.

Houston 6, New York 0--Mike Hampton became the first four-game winner in the major leagues, pitching a seven-hitter as the Astros won at New York.

Hampton (4-0) got his fourth career shutout and 10th complete game. He struck out eight and walked one, winning his fourth consecutive start following a no-decision in his first outing. He has won 16 of his last 19 decisions since last June 27.

Moises Alou hit his fourth home run of the season and Brad Ausmus hit his first.