Kile Continues Met Domination

Darryl Kile refused to call it his best game of the season, but the numbers told a different story. The Colorado right-hander maintained his mastery of the New York Mets with a 4-0, four-hit victory Thursday night at New York.

Kile (3-3), who pitched a no-hitter against the Mets in 1993 while with Houston, held New York hitless until Luis Lopez singled with one out in the sixth inning.

“I’m just lucky against the Mets,” Kile said. “The no-hitter never entered my mind.”

Kile struck out eight and walked five in improving to 8-2 against the Mets. The shutout was the seventh of Kile’s career and his 17th complete game.

“I was throwing fastballs inside and outside for strikes,” Kile said. “We’re out on a long road trip [13 games in as many days] and it was important to get off on the right foot.”

Ellis Burks hit his eighth homer in the first inning off Bobby Jones (1-3) for a 1-0 lead. Mike Lansing had a two-run single in the second for Colorado, which has won five of six. The Mets have lost five in a row.

Jones gave up four runs and six hits in six innings.

“I thought I pitched pretty well,” Jones said. “Just a couple of bad pitches. I don’t put any pressure on myself because of the team being in a hitting slump. The guys will start delivering soon.”

New York’s best threat came in the seventh. John Olerud, who had two hits, opened with a single and went to third on Carlos Baerga’s double. One out later, pinch-hitter Matt Franco walked to load the bases, but Rey Ordonez hit into a double play.

In the second, Neifi Perez singled with one out, Kirt Manwaring was hit by a pitch and Kile moved both runners up with a sacrifice. Lansing followed with his two-run single.

Dante Bichette doubled to start the sixth. He went to third on Vinny Castilla’s single and, after Todd Helton walked to load the bases, Perez hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 4-0.

Chicago 8, St. Louis 3--Kerry Wood pitched seven strong innings and the Cubs scored rolled to a foggy victory over the Cardinals at Chicago despite Mark McGwire’s 11th homer.

The start of the game was delayed two hours by rain. During one stretch in the seventh inning, fog had thickened so much the numbers on the center field scoreboard were not readable and outfielders were barely visible.

Wood struck out McGwire twice and also retired him on a fly ball. McGwire hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Marc Pisciotta.

Mark Petkovsek (1-1), normally a reliever for the Cardinals, made his first start since last July and didn’t get out of the bottom of the first.

Brant Brown led off with a double, Mickey Morandini hit an RBI single, Sammy Sosa singled and Mark Grace walked to load the bases. Henry Rodriguez and Kevin Orie had run-scoring infield outs, a wild pitch allowed another run to score and Scott Servais hit an RBI double to make the score 5-1 and finish Petkovsek after two-thirds of an inning.

San Diego 4, Florida 1--Pete Smith drove in a run and combined with three relievers on a four-hitter at Miami.

Chris Gomez contributed a two-run single for the Padres, who have the best record in the National League and are 10-4 on the road. The game marked the start of an 11-game road trip, the longest on San Diego’s schedule.

The crowd of 14,562 was the smallest for a Marlin home game since May 28, 1996. The loss marked the start of an 11-game homestand for Florida.

Smith (2-2) gave up two hits and one run in 6 1/3 innings. Dan Miceli and Sterling Hitchcock followed before Trevor Hoffman pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his seventh save.

Florida’s Cliff Floyd homered leading off the first inning. It was his eighth homer and the Marlins’ only hit until Edgar Renteria singled in the sixth.