Edmonds Feels Good Enough to Finally Hit

Jim Edmonds broke a two-for-27 slump with a three-run homer and a single Monday night as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-4, at St. Louis.

Well, maybe the slump really isn’t over.

“I can’t explain why I can’t get a hit for a month and why today I probably felt worse than I have in a week and got two hits,” Edmonds said.

“I just felt uncomfortable. I was just trying to hit the ball.”

Edmonds’ 33rd homer came in the fourth inning against Kris Benson (8-11) and was his first since he hit two on Aug. 2, a stretch of 57 at-bats.

He also singled in the first for the National League Central leaders, who won for the fifth time in six games. He felt a recent stretch of three days off in a span of four days ending Saturday might have helped.

“What I do when I’m struggling this bad is I don’t hit,” Edmonds said. “I tried not to do anything, just rest up and forget all my bad habits.”

Houston 5, Chicago 4--Scott Elarton (14-4) won his fifth consecutive decision and reliever Joe Slusarski escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning for the Astros at Houston.

Sammy Sosa hit his major league-leading 43rd homer for the Cubs, who lost their sixth in a row.

Cincinnati 7, Philadelphia 4--Dmitri Young hit an upper-deck grand slam and Barry Larkin got his 2,000th hit in the same inning at Cincinnati.

Young’s first grand slam highlighted a six-run third inning against Randy Wolf (9-7) that sent the Reds to only their second victory in seven games.

Atlanta 7, Colorado 4--Andruw Jones homered in going four for four for the Braves at Denver.

Colorado’s Todd Helton had two hits in his first three at-bats to raise his average to .400--becoming the first player since George Brett in 1980 to reach the mark this late in the season. Helton then went hitless in his final two at-bats to fall to .398.

San Francisco 6, Florida 0--Russ Davis hit his first grand slam and Mark Gardner pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings for the Giants at San Francisco. The Giants have won seven of eight.

San Diego 5, New York 4--Dennis Cook’s bases-loaded walk to Dave Magadan scored Ruben Rivera with the winning run in the 10th inning at San Diego.

Milwaukee 16, Arizona 8--Tyler Houston drove in five runs with two homers, including a three-run shot in the Brewers’ eight-run second inning at Phoenix.

Notes

The Colorado Rockies put Larry Walker on the 15-day disabled list Monday because of a chronically injured right elbow that could sideline him the rest of the season. . . . Arizona Diamondback first baseman Erubiel Durazo, who went on the disabled list Sunday because of soreness in his right wrist, could be facing a second operation.