Astros Defeat Indians in 11th

Tom Candiotti’s wild pitch in the bottom of the 11th inning allowed the winning run to score, giving the Houston Astros a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians Monday at Houston.

The Astros, in winning their eighth straight, improved to 12-2 in interleague play after winning the first two games between the Central Division leaders. Cleveland has lost a season-high four in a row.

The Astros, who had had only four hits, scored the winning run in the 11th without a hit against Candiotti (4-6), who walked Bill Spiers and hit Tim Bogar with a pitch to start the inning.

“I thought I had an ‘A’ knuckler going tonight,” Candiotti said. “The one that hit Bogar just sailed up and in on him. It’s just one of those things but my knuckler was really good.”

Kansas City 10, Chicago Cubs 2--Mike Sweeney had a career-high four hits and drove in three runs, and Jay Witasick won for the first time in nearly a month as the Royals won at Chicago.

Joe Randa homered to extend his hitting streak to 16 games for the Royals, who received a strong effort from Witasick (4-6), who gave up one unearned run and four hits and walked only two to win for the first time since June 23 against Detroit.

St. Louis 8, Minnesota 4--Fernando Tatis hit two two-run homers to lead the Cardinals, who played again with Mark McGwire, at St. Louis.

Florida 10, Boston 7--Preston Wilson had four hits at Boston with his club rookie-record 18th homer to help the Marlins continue their interleague success.

Florida improved to 31-17 since interleague play began in 1996.

Toronto 8, Atlanta 7--Tony Batista led off the 10th inning with a home run to complete a come-from-behind for the Blue Jays at Toronto.

Shawn Green hit a grand slam and Carlos Delgado hit two solo home runs for the Blue Jays, who rallied from a four-run deficit.

Montreal 6, New York Yankees 4--Brad Fullmer homered, doubled twice and singled as the Expos, victimized by David Cone’s perfect game a day earlier, ended their losing streak at six with a victory at New York.

Fullmer had four hits, including a double to set up Shane Andrews’ tiebreaking, two-run single with two outs in the eighth inning.

Philadelphia 16, Tampa Bay 3--Scott Rolen homered twice for the second day in a row and Phillies climbed nine games over .500 for the first time in nearly four years with a win at St. Petersburg, Fla. Rolen has 24 homers.

Chicago White Sox 10, Milwaukee 8--Ray Durham and Chris Singleton hit consecutive homers with two out in the 12th inning for the White Sox at Milwaukee.

New York Mets 4, Baltimore 1--Rookie Octavio Dotel gave up three hits over seven innings and the Mets received home runs from Edgardo Alfonzo and Robin Ventura at Baltimore.

Detroit 7, Cincinnati 6--Jeff Weaver hit the first double by a Tiger pitcher in 27 years and Damion Easley hit a tiebreaking homer at Cincinnati.

Seattle 7, Arizona 5--Alex Rodriguez hit a grand slam in the sixth inning and Jay Buhner also homered for the Mariners, who have won three in a row at their new stadium, Safeco Field.