Ortiz Quietly Wins Fifth in Row for Giants

Russ Ortiz has a reputation as one of the quietest players in the San Francisco Giants’ clubhouse. His pitching is coming through loud and clear.

The right-hander did not give up an earned run in 6 2/3 innings en route to his fifth consecutive victory Saturday as the Giants defeated the Houston Astros, 3-1, at San Francisco.

“He’s just a very quiet guy who goes about his business, and when he’s pitched the way he’s pitched, your confidence grows,” said J.T. Snow, who supported Ortiz with a run-scoring double. “He’s one of those classic hard throwers and it’s nice to play behind a guy like that. He’s quietly become the ace of this staff.”

Ortiz (6-2) lowered his earned-run average to 2.25, best in the National League.

“I’m a little surprised with where I’m at with some of the stats,” said Ortiz, who has yet to play a full season in the majors. “But as far as the way I feel about my pitching, this is what I expected of myself.

“To say that I’m the ace of the staff, I don’t believe that. All I can say is I’m happy with where I’m at and I think with each start, I’m getting better.”

Ortiz, a converted reliever who has emerged as San Francisco’s most reliable starter, struck out four and walked two. He shut down the league’s top-hitting team on three singles.

Chris Holt (0-6) pitched well in losing. He gave up three runs--two earned--on six hits in six innings, walked two and struck out four.

Montreal 12, Milwaukee 4--Vladimir Guerrero drove in runs the first four times he came to the plate for the Expos at Montreal.

Guerrero had a sacrifice fly in the first inning, a run-scoring single in the third and an RBI grounder in the fourth against Scott Karl (5-2).

He hit his 10th homer in the seventh, a solo shot, against Eric Plunk. Chris Widger followed with his sixth homer.

Rondell White homered, tripled and doubled for the Expos.

Pittsburgh 11, Florida 4--Jason Kendall hit a bases-loaded triple to spark a six-run fifth inning at Miami as the Pirates ended a five-game losing streak.

All six runs were unearned and came with two out, courtesy of an inning-opening error by third baseman Dave Berg.

Kendall finished with three hits and scored twice as the Pirates also ended a nine-game road losing streak. Jose Guillen had three RBIs on a pair of singles.

Pittsburgh’s 11 runs equaled the total from its previous four games. The Pirates finished with 14 hits and every starter got one except Ed Sprague, who was hit by a pitch twice, walked and had a sacrifice fly.

Atlanta 4, Chicago 2--Kevin Millwood outpitched NL ERA leader Kevin Tapani at Atlanta, ending the Cubs’ five-game winning streak.

All five of the Cubs’ victories had come on the road, including the last four in their final at-bat.

But the Braves, who had lost four in a row to Chicago, took command by scoring four runs on five hits in the third inning.

Millwood (4-3) gave up five hits and one run in seven innings. John Rocker picked up his sixth save in eight opportunities with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Tapani (3-2), who had a 1.77 ERA in his six previous starts this season, gave up four runs and six hits in six innings. He left with a 2.31 ERA, behind the Giants’ Ortiz.

Arizona 8, Colorado 3--Jay Bell hit his 14th homer, a three-run shot, to power the Diamondbacks at Denver.

Bell’s homer keyed a five-run sixth inning for Arizona, which ended a three-game losing streak.

Colorado’s Larry Walker went 0 for 4 and had his 21-game hitting streak ended, but he still leads the majors with a .420 batting average.

Omar Daal (4-4) pitched his first complete game of the season. He gave up 11 hits, including Vinny Castilla’s home run.

Bell, who had 13 homers in Arizona’s first 35 games, had gone eight games without a homer.

Philadelphia 9, New York 3--Mike Lieberthal homered, tripled and drove in four runs, plenty of support for Paul Byrd at New York.

Byrd (6-2), who beat the Mets in his previous start, gave up three runs in 7 2/3 innings. He gave up six hits, only two reaching the outfield.

Byrd also hit an RBI single during a four-run second against Bobby Jones (3-3), who lasted only 2 2/3 innings and gave up five runs and six hits.

Jones, who won his first three decisions, has not won in six starts since April 17. In his last three starts, he has given up 20 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings.