Kile Rocked in His Return to Colorado

There were all the ingredients for an explosive night in Denver on Thursday: the St. Louis Cardinal offense, Coors Field and Darryl Kile.

And it didn’t take long for the fireworks to go off, as the Cardinals, playing without Mark McGwire, hit three home runs in the first inning, only to see the Rockies score 10 runs against Kile in the second inning and cruise to a 12-6 victory.

St. Louis leads the major leagues with 28 home runs, the latest three coming from Placido Polanco, Fernando Tatis and Jim Edmonds, all solo shots in the first inning against Scott Karl. But the most famous Cardinal slugger, McGwire, was sent back to St. Louis before the game because of lingering back pain. He will be examined by team physician George Paletta early today.

After the outburst, the Rockies responded with one run in the first and 10 in the second against Kile, who lasted only 1 2/3 innings. It was Kile’s first start at Coors Field since playing for the Rockies in 1998 and 1999, when he went 21-30 with a 5.83 earned-run average.

The Rockies sent 15 men to the plate in the second, collecting a club-record nine hits.

Neifi Perez led off the inning by reaching on shortstop Edgar Renteria’s throwing error. With one out, Karl was hit by a pitch. Tom Goodwin followed with a run-scoring single, Lansing a two-run single and Larry Walker an RBI double.

Jeff Cirillo was hit by a pitch, and Helton hit a three-run, 421-foot home run. Darren Bragg hit a solo home run, and Perez tripled and scored on Scott Servais’ sacrifice fly. Karl singled, chasing Kile, and Goodwin singled against Justin Brunette, who made his major league debut. Lansing then got his third RBI of the inning with another single.

New York 2, Philadelphia 1--Mike Piazza’s run-scoring double with two outs in the ninth inning at Philadelphia helped the Mets end a four-game losing streak.

Jay Payton singled with one out against Scott Aldred for his first three-hit game. With two outs, Piazza hit a liner to left-center against Amaury Telemaco. Payton barely beat Mickey Morandini’s relay throw from left fielder Ron Gant to score the winning run.

Pittsburgh 4, Montreal 3--Bruce Aven and Jason Kendall hit two-out, run-scoring singles in the bottom of the ninth as the Pirates rallied against closer Ugueth Urbina at Pittsburgh.

Warren Morris, who went three for four, hit a one-out single against Urbina, who blew his second save in four chances. One out later Adrian Brown singled for his third hit of the game, setting up Aven’s pinch-hit single that tied it. Kendall followed with a single up the middle.

Milwaukee 4, Florida 0--Jason Bere gave up three hits and struck out nine in seven innings to lead the Brewers at Milwaukee.

In his first start, Bere gave up one run on five hits with eight strikeouts against the Cardinals. David Weathers pitched a hitless eighth inning and Bob Wickman finished the four-hitter.

Arizona 5, San Diego 4--Steve Finley hit a pair of two-run home runs to lead the Diamondbacks over the camouflaged Padres at San Diego. The Padres wore camouflaged jerseys and green hats to honor San Diego’s large Navy and Marine Corps population.

Finley homered to right field in the fourth inning and to straightaway center in the sixth, both against left-hander Sterling Hitchcock.

Chicago 3, Atlanta 2--Pinch-hitter Jose Nieves slapped a game-winning single to right with two outs in the ninth as the Cubs completed a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field.

Shane Andrews, whose three-run home run Monday sparked a four-run, ninth-inning rally, was hit by a pitch from Mike Remlinger to start the bottom of the ninth and moved to second on Jeff Reed’s sacrifice. Damon Buford struck out but Nieves hit the first pitch between first and second.