Padres Outlast Rockies; Gwynn Ends Slump

Wally Joyner continues to hit at Coors Field, and Ken Caminiti continues to hit no matter where he’s playing.

Joyner, Caminiti and Jim Leyritz all homered Tuesday night as the San Diego Padres ended Colorado’s season-high four-game winning streak with an 8-7 victory over the Rockies at Denver.

Caminiti is batting .453 with six homers and 15 runs batted in in his last 15 games, and Joyner improved to 27 for 54 (.500) in his career at Coors.

“I have done well here because there have been a lot of cheap hits,” Joyner said. “It’s not a big deal.”

Joyner’s two-run homer off Rockies’ starter Darryl Kile (6-12) helped the Padres build an 8-3 lead in what turned into a typically high-scoring game between the teams. In 21 games at Coors Field, they have never combined for fewer than 10 runs.

“These guys, they scare me,” Tony Gwynn said. “You can be ahead and look like you are in control of the game and a few pitches later it can be a tie or you can be dead.”

Gwynn ended a career-worst 0-for-19 slump with a second-inning single and finished the game one for five.

“All the hit did was get you guys off my back,” he said. “I had been swinging the bat good and hit the ball good tonight.”

Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth for his 28th save and 36th in a row dating to last year. He retired Vinny Castilla on a fly to the wall in center for the second out and has now converted 55 of his last 56 save chances.

“Vinny’s ball was hit pretty good, and I had a pretty good pitch to hit,” said rookie Todd Helton, who singled off Hoffman for his first four-hit game. “But he’s a great closer. That’s why he doesn’t have a blown save this year.”

Chicago 7, Pittsburgh 4--Glenallen Hill had three hits and two RBIs, including one of four consecutive run-scoring singles in a six-run sixth inning, and the Cubs rallied to defeat the Pirates at Pittsburgh.

Sammy Sosa failed to homer for the fourth consecutive game--he has 35 homers in 93 games--but contributed an RBI single among the Cubs’ 11 hits.

Pittsburgh starter Chris Peters’ wildness and right fielder Jose Guillen’s two-base throwing error contributed to the Cubs’ outburst, which turned a 3-1 deficit into a 7-3 lead.

Kevin Tapani (10-6) was the beneficiary of the big inning, overcoming Guillen’s two-run double and Turner Ward’s homer to post his eighth 10-win season in the 1990s. He left after giving up four runs and nine hits in seven innings.

Atlanta 4, New York 2--John Smoltz revived the Braves’ rotation with eight strong innings, and also hit a go-ahead single as the Braves broke a three-game losing streak with a victory over the Mets at New York.

Chipper Jones hit a solo home run and an RBI double--misjudged by new Met left fielder Todd Hundley--helping Atlanta avoid matching its longest skid of the season.

The win by Smoltz (7-2) came after Denny Neagle, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine lost Atlanta’s three previous games at Florida. Not since April 29-May 3, 1994, had Braves’ starting pitchers lost four consecutive games.

Smoltz gave up a two-out, two-run single in the third to Hundley--his first RBIs of the season--but only one hit after that.

Montreal 2, Florida 1--Dustin Hermanson scattered five hits in eight innings and overcame some shaky defense behind him as the Expos defeated the Marlins at Miami, snapping the Marlins’ season-high, four-game winning streak.

Hermanson (7-7), traded by the Marlins before last season, defeated his former teammates for the second time in five starts since being dealt. The right-hander struck out four and did not give up a walk.

Ugueth Urbina pitched a perfect ninth for his 23rd save. He is the only Expo pitcher with a save this season.

Philadelphia 4, Milwaukee 2--Scott Rolen’s two-run double off Jeff Juden in the eighth broke up a scoreless game and lifted the Phillies to a victory over the Brewers at Milwaukee.

Juden (7-8) surrendered back-to-back singles to Doug Glanville and Gregg Jefferies to start the eighth before Rolen sent a 1-and-2 slider into the gap in left-center.

The Phillies should have scored only one run on the play, but shortstop Jose Valentin’s relay home was terrible, pulling catcher Bobby Hughes several feet off home plate, allowing the second run to score and Rolen to take third.

Rolen, however, was thrown out by third baseman Jeff Cirillo on Mike Lieberthal’s grounder one out later.

Brewer shortstop Mark Loretta left the game in the third after aggravating a rib cage injury he sustained Friday night when he got plunked by Kerry Wood.

Houston 4, Arizona 2--Shane Reynolds became the NL’s fourth 12-game winner, picking up his fifth consecutive victory as the Astros snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating the Diamondbacks at Phoenix.

Reynolds (12-5) gave up a run in the first and another on Danny Klassen’s solo homer in the seventh. In between, he shut out the Diamondbacks on one hit and gave up five hits in 7 2/3 innings.