Piazza Shares Limelight With Met Pitchers

After one of his most productive games since joining the New York Mets, Mike Piazza credited his pitchers for the victory.

Piazza hit a three-run homer and finished with five RBIs--his most since joining the Mets--and Robin Ventura hit his first NL home run to lead New York over the Expos, 10-3, Friday night at Montreal.

Piazza and Ventura hit back-to-back homers in the first inning to stake Masato Yoshii (1-0) to a four-run lead before he threw a pitch.

“I think we’re going to score runs, but we need good pitching and good defense like tonight,” Piazza said.

Piazza also had a two-run single off J.D. Smart, who relieved starter Mike Thurman (0-1) with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth. Piazza relished his chances to bat with runners in scoring position.

“The more opportunities you get, the more guys you drive in,” Piazza said.

Expo rookie Michael Barrett hit a two-run homer in the second in his first at-bat at Olympic Stadium and Vladimir Guerrero went two for four with a homer and a double.

Yoshii, who won only two of his final 20 starts last year, gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings, throwing 53 of 79 pitches for strikes.

“I really wasn’t able to do too much but Mike hit the home run and everybody else played great defense behind me,” Yoshii said.

Met Manager Bobby Valentine was satisfied with his starter’s outing.

“He threw it in there and made them earn everything they got off him,” Valentine said.

With runners on first and second and one out in the first, Piazza hit his second homer of the season on an 0-and-1 pitch from Thurman, who had walked the first three Mets, to give New York a 3-0 lead.

Cincinnati 3, St. Louis 0--Pete Harnisch was bumped from opening-day starter to No. 4 because of back spasms late in spring training but he became the first pitcher to complete a game this season in the game at St. Louis.

Harnisch threw 105 pitches, 77 for strikes.

Sean Casey and Greg Vaughn hit consecutive seventh-inning home runs to break up a scoreless game, and Pokey Reese also homered as Cincinnati won for the first time after an 0-3 start, the team’s worst since losing six in a row to start 1995.

Pittsburgh 2, Chicago 1--Kris Benson limited the Cubs to two hits and a run over six innings at Pittsburgh in his major league debut.

Rookie Warren Morris--Benson’s teammate on the 1996 U.S. Olympic team--hit his first home run for the Pirates, who finished with two hits.

“For it to happen on the same day he homered--well, that’s special for both of us,” Benson said. “We’re teammates again and it’s great it happened this way.”

Benson, the top pick in the 1996 amateur draft, was lifted after a rain delay of 1 hour 5 minutes in the seventh. Chris Peters and Mike Williams followed with three scoreless innings, with Williams earning his first save.

Sammy Sosa went 0 for two against Benson and 0 for three overall, striking out swinging against Mike Williams with the potential tying run on third and two out in the eighth. Sosa still hasn’t homered after four games and is batting .077 (one for 13).

San Francisco 8, San Diego 3--Chris Brock pitched seven innings for his first major league win and Barry Bonds sparked the Giant offense with three hits at San Francisco.

It was the fifth consecutive victory for the Giants, who are off to their best start since 1987, when they also opened 5-0.

Brock (1-0) gave up eight hits while striking out five and walking one to earn the victory after 21 games over parts of three seasons. It was his first start for the Giants.

Bonds had a two-run single in a four-run third, and is nine for 16 (.562) with two homers and eight RBIs in his last four games.

J.T. Snow added a two-run double in a three-run fifth after San Diego pulled to 4-3 on Reggie Sanders’ first homer for the Padres, who acquired him in February from Cincinnati in the Greg Vaughn deal.

Rookie Matt Clement (0-1) was hit hard in his season debut for San Diego, lasting 4 1/3 innings and giving up seven runs and 10 hits.

Houston 3, Milwaukee 2--Tim Bogar’s two-out RBI single in the eighth inning gave the Astros the victory at Houston.

Craig Biggio stole home in the third inning and pitcher Sean Bergman hit the second home run of his career, in the fifth inning, for Houston.

The Astros, who led the National League in runs last season, have 10 runs in four games and are batting .213 (26 for 122). The first four batters have a collective .146 average ( seven for 48).

The Astros trailed, 2-0, with two out in the third when Biggio became the first Astro to steal home in nearly six years. Biggio scored when Brewer catcher Dave Nilsson tried to pick off Ken Caminiti at first.

Florida 7, Philadelphia 4--Brian Meadows pitched 8 1/3 strong innings and Todd Dunwoody drove in three runs for the Marlins at Miami.

Meadows (1-0) gave up four runs, three earned, and five hits. The 23-year-old right-hander, beginning his second big-league season, improved to 3-0 in three starts against the Phillies.

Meadows also crossed up Philadelphia in a bunt situation with a swinging single, sparking the Marlins’ five-run fifth.

Vic Darensbourg and Matt Mantei each retired one batter to complete the five-hitter.