Piazza Celebrates Birthday With Home Run

Mike Piazza gave New York Mets’ fans his best Mark McGwire imitation and gave himself a great 30th birthday present.

Piazza homered for the third straight game, a McGwire-like 485-foot shot over the picnic area in left-center field at Shea Stadium, leading the Mets past the Atlanta Braves, 2-1, Friday night.

“Somebody got a great souvenir--if they were out there on the highway,” Met Manager Bobby Valentine said.

Piazza, three for three with a walk, homered after John Olerud’s walk in the fourth.

“I hit that pretty well,” said Piazza, who has eight homers in his last 14 games. “Anything that clears the fence is fine with me.”

New York, which remained one game behind Chicago in the NL wild-card race, is 30-23 in one-run games--the most victories in the majors. Of the Mets last 21 wins, 15 have been decided by one run.

“That’s the trademark of our team,” Piazza said. “We don’t blow teams out. We really have to fight and claw.”

Al Leiter (14-5) won for the fourth time in five starts, pitching a five-hitter with two strikeouts and three walks. It was his fourth complete game of the season, and he needed just 97 pitches.

“This lower pitch count seemed more strenuous today because I realized every pitch mattered,” Leiter said. “I really concentrated. I internalized it.”

Tom Glavine, trying to become the first 19-game winner in the majors, dropped to 11-2 on the road. Glavine (18-6) yielded two runs and five hits in seven innings.

New York, which had been 0-5 against the Braves this season, has homered in 10 consecutive games, hitting seven in its last three.

Atlanta got its run in the seventh when Greg Colbrunn singled with two outs and Ryan Klesko hit a liner that sailed over the head of center fielder Brian McRae for a double.

The Braves put leadoff runners on in the third, fourth, eighth and ninth, but failed to score. New York turned double plays in the fourth, eighth and ninth innings.

Colorado 11, San Diego 5--Vinny Castilla hit his 40th and 41st home runs and drove in a career-high six runs to power the Rockies at Coors Field.

“I am a streaky hitter when it comes to hitting home runs,” said Castilla, who hit only three homers in August. “I didn’t hit many home runs in August, but hit the ball well. I got singles and doubles and drove in runs and try to get a quality at-bat each time.”

Castilla hit a three-run homer in the sixth, a two-run shot in the fourth and added a run-scoring triple in the fifth. He has hit 40 or more homers in three straight seasons and his 125 RBIs ties him with Mark McGwire for second in the league.

“After the first two seasons of hitting 40 home runs, that is what he expects of himself, to hit 40,” Colorado Manager Don Baylor said. “Now that he’s got more than that and with the 125 RBIs, he’s in a different territory for him.”

Darryl Hamilton hit the Rockies’ 500th home run at Coors Field, Todd Helton hit a solo homer and Larry Walker went one for one with four walks to maintain his NL batting lead at .345.

Quilvio Veras went three for four and scored three runs for the Padres.

Leading 5-4, Castilla’s second homer keyed a four-run sixth off San Diego reliever Scott Sanders (2-1). Hamilton hit a two-run homer off Randy Myers in the seventh to put the Rockies ahead 11-5.

Dave Veres (3-1) worked 1 2/3 innings of relief for the win.

“I was well-rested and ready to give us a couple of innings,” Veres said. “By going 1 2/3 innings, I was able to give a couple of other guys rest so they could be available the rest of the weekend.”

The Padres capitalized on the first-inning wildness by Bobby Jones, who gave up a leadoff single to Veras before walking Ken Caminiti and Jim Leyritz to load the bases. George Arias, subbing at first base for Wally Joyner, blooped a two-out, two-run single to right.

“We had our chances to put them away in the first couple of innings,” Padre Manager Bruce Bochy said. “We let them regroup and then they started playing long ball with us.”

Castilla tripled off the scoreboard in right to score Larry Walker with two outs in the fifth, giving Colorado a 5-4 lead. Greg Vaughn’s sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth tied it 5-5.

Philadelphia 6, Milwaukee 2--Curt Schilling struck out 10 at Milwaukee to increase his major league-leading total to 268 as the Phillies snapped a three-game losing streak.

Schilling (14-12) gave up both runs and six hits in seven innings, reaching double digits in strikeouts for the 14th time this season and the 43rd time in his career. He led the NL with 319 strikeouts last season.

Brewer Rookie Steve Woodard (9-10) lost his fifth consecutive start, giving up six runs--two earned--and five hits in four innings.

Montreal 8, Florida 0--Dustin Hermanson combined with two relievers on a three-hitter and Shane Andrews homered twice at Miami as the Expos handed the Marlins their eighth consecutive loss.

Hermanson (13-10), who won for the sixth time in eight starts, yielded three hits in seven innings and struck out eight. He was followed by Steve Kline and Ugueth Urbina, who each pitched one hitless inning.