Gaetti Delivers When He’s Put in Position of Power

For the second night in a row, a St. Louis Cardinals first baseman out-homered the Philadelphia Phillies. Only this time, his name wasn’t Mark McGwire.

McGwire, who hit three homers Tuesday night, got the day off but his replacement at first, Gary Gaetti, hit a pair of two-run homers as the Cardinals beat the Phillies, 8-5, Wednesday night at Philadelphia.

“It makes me wonder if I’ve been playing out of position,” said Gaetti, normally a third baseman. “Get me over there to the power position.”

Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa also joked that there was something special about first base.

“It proves it doesn’t have anything to do with the player, it’s the position,” he said.

Ron Gant and Delino DeShields also homered for the Cardinals, who tied a team record by hitting a homer in their 12th straight game.

Mike Busby, making his first start of the season and only the fifth of his career, gave up six hits and two runs in six innings to improve to 5-0.

Pittsburgh 5-3, San Diego 2-8--Greg Vaughn hit a two-run homer and Sterling Hitchcock pitched his best game since joining San Diego’s starting rotation, leading the Padres past the Pirates at Pittsburgh in the second game of a doubleheader.

Francisco Cordova shut out San Diego until the ninth inning, and the Padres’ shaky defense led to a four-run sixth inning as the Pirates won the opener.

Andy Sheets singled, doubled and scored twice, and Vaughn broke a fifth-inning tie with his 13th homer to back Hitchcock’s six-hit pitching over 6 2/3 innings.

Hitchcock (2-0) hadn’t gone more than six innings in three starts since moving from the bullpen to the rotation May 4. But he didn’t give up a run after Jose Guillen’s solo homer in the third, retiring 13 of the last 15 batters he faced.

Houston 4, Montreal 3--Derek Bell hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the ninth inning at Montreal.

Brad Ausmus opened the inning with a single off Anthony Telford (2-1) and went to second on a sacrifice.

After Craig Biggio struck out, Bell singled home Ausmus and went to second on right fielder Vladimir Guerrero’s throw to the plate.

Moises Alou then drove in Bell with a single to make it 4-2. The Expos made the score 4-3 on Mark Grudzielanek’s two-out RBI single in the ninth, but Billy Wagner struck out Guerrero with runners at first and second for his 11th save in 12 chances.

San Francisco 4, Milwaukee 2--Orel Hershiser pitched seven strong innings at Milwaukee for his third consecutive victory and contributed two singles to lead the Giants.

Hershiser (3-3) gave up one run and five hits, struck out five and walked two.

He singled and scored in the fifth inning and drove in his first run as a Giant with a single in the sixth.

Atlanta 5, Colorado 1--Michael Tucker hit a two-run homer in the first inning at Atlanta to help Kevin Millwood win his sixth game. Millwood (6-1) has a 9-1 record in his last 13 starts since last Aug. 30. He gave up four hits, walked two, struck out three and hit a batter in seven innings.

Cincinnati 8, New York 6--Ed Taubensee had three RBIs and Lenny Harris drove in two runs at New York as the Reds ended a four-game losing streak.