Diamondbacks Win West Title

All it took was one year, and doubling the team payroll, for the Arizona Diamondbacks to go from an expansion club to National League West champions.

Randy Johnson, the biggest of several free agents the Diamondbacks signed after losing 97 games while making his debut in 1998, pitched a five-hitter and added a run-scoring single Friday night as Arizona clinched the division title with an 11-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants at San Francisco.

The Diamondbacks became the first expansion club to win a division title in less than eight years. The Florida Marlins, who won a World Series championship in their fifth year, were a wild-card team in that 1997 season.

Johnson (16-9) gave up three unearned runs, all in the first inning, but retired 14 consecutive batters after that in his major league-leading 12th complete game. He struck out 11, increasing his major league-best total to 353.

The 353 strikeouts moved Johnson past Bob Feller (348 for the Cleveland Indians in 1946) and Rube Waddell (349 for the Philadelphia A’s in 1904) and into fourth place on the list for strikeouts in a season. Only Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax have struck out more batters in a year.

Johnson has 22 double-digit strikeout games this year, tying the National League record set by Koufax in 1965.

The Diamondbacks lost 31 of their first 39 games of 1998, and spent the entire season in last place in the National League West. They went on a spending spree in the off-season, increasing the club payroll from $32 million to $65.9 million.

Philadelphia 3, New York 2--Mike Lieberthal’s RBI single against Armando Benitez capped a two-run eighth-inning rally at Philadelphia as the Phillies sent the Mets to their fourth consecutive loss.

The Mets, who came to Philadelphia after losing three in a row at Atlanta, fell five games behind the Braves. And their lead in the wild-card race was cut to one game by the Cincinnati Reds.

Cincinnati 5, St. Louis 4--Sean Casey’s check-swing single drove in a pair of runs for the Reds during a four-run sixth inning at Cincinnati.

The Reds kept Mark McGwire stuck at 59 homers and overcame a three-run deficit set up by their throwing errors to make up ground in the National League playoff chase.

Cincinnati moved within a game of the New York Mets for the National League wild card.

Atlanta 4, Montreal 3--Ozzie Guillen’s first homer in more than a year gave the Braves their fifth consecutive victory--a 10-inning win at Montreal.

Guillen, whose last homer came June 24, 1998, against the New York Yankees, hit a 2-and-2 pitch from Guillermo Mota (2-4) into the right-field stands with two outs for his 26th homer in 6,570 at-bats.

Colorado 5, Florida 3--Todd Helton homered and added a tiebreaking two-run triple in the eighth inning at Miami.

Chicago 9, Pittsburgh 0--Sammy Sosa went without a homer for a fifth consecutive game, remaining at 61, but Roosevelt Brown hit a three-run triple at Chicago.