Piazza Extends Streak With Homer in Ninth

Mike Piazza got one last chance and he made the most of it.

Piazza homered in the ninth inning to extend his career-best hitting streak to 21 games Friday night as the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2, at St. Louis for their fourth straight victory.

Piazza was hitless in his first four at-bats before leading off the ninth against Mike Mohler.

The former Dodger is three games short of tying the longest hitting streak in Met history, set by Hubie Brooks in 1984.

“I had some real good swings in my first couple of at-bats,” Piazza said. “I hit the ball hard, but it was right at people.”

Although the ball did not appear to be carrying, Piazza still managed to get it out of the park for his 14th home run.

Piazza was not looking for a big hit.

“I didn’t go up there looking to run the ball out of the park,” he said. “It was just like any other at-bat. I just take my shots and get my swings in.”

Edgardo Alfonzo, who has a run batted in in seven consecutive games, had two doubles and drove in two runs for the Mets, who have won 10 of 12.

Met Manager Bobby Valentine said his team has a simple formula for its recent success.

“Good defense, good pitching and good hitting,” he said. “When you get all those things, and you piece it together, you’re going to play well.”

Orel Hershiser (7-5), suffering from back spasms, gave up one hit in five scoreless innings for his 197th victory, and his fifth in six starts.

Colorado 11, Florida 10--Todd Helton’s second homer of the game capped a three-run ninth inning for the Rockies at Denver.

The dramatic ending made a winner of Colorado Manager Jim Leyland in the first meeting against his former team. Leyland guided the Marlins to the World Series title in 1997 before the team was dismantled.

Larry Walker led off the ninth with a home run, his 15th, against Matt Mantei (1-2). Dante Bichette followed with a bloop single and went to second on a groundout before Helton hit Mantei’s first pitch high into the right-field seats.

Helton, who has 13 homers, has 12 RBIs in his last five games. He matched a career high with five RBIs.

Chuck McElroy (3-1) pitched a hitless ninth.

The Marlins led, 9-4, after six innings before the Rockies started chipping away, pulling to 9-7 in the seventh and then to 10-8 in the eighth on Jeff Reed’s pinch-hit single.

Cincinnati 7, Milwaukee 1--Steve Avery, in his best start in nearly a month, held the Brewers to three hits in seven innings and Greg Vaughn hit another upper-deck homer at Cincinnati.

Vaughn also singled and drove in three runs. His 16th home run made him only the second player to reach the upper deck at Cinergy Field three times.

Avery (4-6) struck out six and walked three.

After pitching at least seven innings in his first five starts of the season, Avery had lasted less than two in two of his last four. He had three losses and a no-decision since his last win May 23 at San Diego.

Houston 5, Montreal 0--Shane Reynolds pitched a six-hitter and had an RBI double at Houston as the Astros ended a three-game losing streak.

Richard Hidalgo hit a three-run homer in the third inning and Tim Bogar had a solo homer in the fourth.

Reynolds (8-6) won for the first time since May 24. He lost his next three starts, but was the pitcher of record Sunday when the game was suspended after Manager Larry Dierker collapsed in the eighth inning with the Astros leading the San Diego Padres, 4-1.

That game will be completed when the Padres return to the Astrodome July 23.

Atlanta 6, Arizona 0--John Smoltz pitched six strong innings, and Chipper Jones and Ryan Klesko drove in two runs apiece at Phoenix.

Jones and Ozzie Guillen each had three hits. Guillen drove in the first run with an RBI double, and the Braves won their fourth in a row and ended Arizona’s four-game winning streak.

Smoltz (8-2) recovered from a shaky start to win his third decision in four starts since he returned to the rotation on June 1.

He gave up four hits, walked two and struck out four in his second six-inning shutout stint since coming off the disabled list after recovering from inflammation in his right elbow.

His worst inning was the second, when Matt Williams extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a leadoff single.

San Francisco 8, Chicago 5--Barry Bonds homered for the first time since returning from elbow surgery and Armando Rios hit the first grand slam of his career as the Giants survived a five-run eighth-inning outburst by the Cubs at San Francisco.

Russ Ortiz (8-4) carried a shutout into the eighth before it was broken up by Sammy Sosa’s National League-leading 23rd homer, a three-run shot.

Rich Rodriguez relieved, but Mark Grace and Henry Rodriguez homered in succession. It was only the seventh time in Cub history that they have hit three consecutive home runs--most recently, the same three homered in succession last Aug. 10 against Ortiz.