Chicago Is Hot, but Cardinals Hotter

Home plate umpire Kerwin Danley didn’t last past the fourth inning. The bleachers emptied as the game progressed and the fans sought shade. It was even too hot for Sammy Sosa.

“I never complain,” he said, “but it was one of those days when it was really, really too much.”

Garrett Stephenson shrugged off 91-degree temperatures and 97% humidity Tuesday and the Cardinals defeated the Cubs, 4-2, at Chicago.

Stephenson also overcame Sammy Sosa’s major league-leading 38th home run--a solo shot in the first inning. It was Sosa’s second homer in as many games.

“A solo homer’s a solo homer. It’s one run,” Stephenson said. “You don’t want a guy like him or somebody else like him to put up a big inning and we were able to avoid that today.”

Mike Matheny had three hits, including an RBI single, to lead the Cardinals to their fourth win in six games.

Stephenson (13-7) became the sixth National League pitcher to win 13 games. He gave up two runs and six hits over seven innings, striking out seven.

“It was hot today, kind of hard to get your breath,” Stephenson said. “Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it.”

Danley left after four innings, overcome by the heat.

“I knew the umpire was going to have a long day. He didn’t get much of a break between innings,” Matheny said. “I thought it might be rough.”

Tempers were short. Cardinal second baseman Fernando Vina was ejected after arguing a called third strike in the third inning. Cub Manager Don Baylor was tossed in the seventh after arguing a called third strike against Gary Matthews Jr. by substitute plate umpire Mike DiMuro.

“I know it’s warm out there but some of those pitches were impossible to hit,” Baylor said of the calls. “I didn’t swear at him. I guess the heat got to him too.”

New York 7-4, Colorado 5-3--Todd Helton went four for eight with three doubles and a homer to inch closer to .400, but Todd Zeile’s tiebreaking homer in eighth inning helped the Mets sweep a doubleheader at New York.

The Mets drew eight walks--including two with the bases loaded in the seventh inning--and broke a tie on a run-scoring wild pitch to win the opener.

New York has won 18 of 22 games to move within two games of Atlanta in the NL East.

Helton is batting .396, the highest anyone has been this late in the season since George Brett was batting over .400 in September 1980 before finishing at .390. Ted Williams, who batted .406 in 1941, is the last major leaguer to bat .400 over a season.

San Francisco 9, Montreal 7--J.T. Snow homered twice, one of them the seventh grand slam of his career, and had six runs batted in for the Giants, who won at Montreal.

Vladimir Guerrero also homered twice for the Expos, and the teams combined for eight homers.

Snow hit his second grand slam of the season in the first inning off Mike Johnson, a solo homer in the sixth off Felipe Lira (3-2) that put the Giants ahead, 8-7, and a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

The slam was the 11th given up by the Expos this season, which ties the NL record set by San Francisco in 1996. The 1996 Detroit Tigers gave up a major league-record 14 grand slams.

Arizona 11, Philadelphia 6--Matt Williams homered, doubled and drove in five runs for the Diamondbacks, who kept pace with San Francisco by winning at Philadelphia.

Arizona is one game behind the Giants in the West.

Danny Bautista and Greg Colbrunn each had three hits for the Diamondbacks, who won their third in a row. Bautista’s two-run double broke a 6-6 tie in the eighth inning.

Williams hit a two-run homer in the fourth and added a three-run double in the ninth.

Houston 5, Pittsburgh 4--Jose Lima (5-14), who has given up a major league-leading 38 homers, surrendered two in the first inning, but got home-run help from Jeff Bagwell and Daryle Ward in the Astros’ victory at Houston.

Chris Truby also homered for Houston, which won its third game in a row. Houston, with the worst record in the majors, is 17-16 since the All-Star break.

Brian Giles homered, tripled and doubled for the Pirates, who have lost seven of nine.

Lima gave up a home run to Adrian Brown leading off the game, and Giles hit a solo shot later in the first inning. Lima went six innings and gave up three runs and seven hits.

Atlanta 3, San Diego 1--Andres Galarraga’s three-run homer deep into the left-field seats with two out in the seventh inning lifted the Braves to a victory at Atlanta.

Woody Williams (7-5) shut out the Braves on six hits until Galarraga’s 436-foot shot. Andruw Jones started the go-ahead burst with a one-out double to center field, and after Chipper Jones lined to short, B.J. Surhoff walked. Galarraga hit Williams’ first pitch into the seats.

Milwaukee 2, Cincinnati 1--Richie Sexson, who homered earlier, singled home the winning run with two out in bottom of the 10th inning at Milwaukee.

After Santiago Perez drew a leadoff walk off Mark Wohlers (1-2), pinch-hitter Luis Lopez sacrificed and Ron Belliard walked.

Larry Luebbers relieved and walked Marquis Grissom and struck out Geoff Jenkins before Sexson’s hit.