Little Things Are Carrying Rockies a Long Way

These Colorado Rockies don’t need to hit a lot of homers and they’re proving they can win on the road.

Colorado used Jeff Cirillo’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to score an unearned run off San Diego bullpen ace Trevor Hoffman and beat the Padres, 3-2, Sunday at San Diego.

Padre right-hander Woody Williams pitched eight strong innings in his first start after surgery for an aneurysm, but the Rockies ended up with only their fourth win in San Diego in 18 games dating to June 22, 1997.

The Rockies are 2-1 so far on their 10-game trip. A year ago, they went 0-7 on a California trip.

“We didn’t hammer anyone today,” Manager Buddy Bell said. “Fundamentally, we did some good things.”

Cirillo’s second sacrifice fly of the game scored Mike Lansing, who had reached with one out on second baseman Bret Boone’s fielding error and moved to third on Todd Helton’s single.

Cirillo said the two key plays were Neifi Perez beating out a run-scoring infield single in the sixth inning and Lansing hustling to first in the 10th. Boone fielded Lansing’s slow roller, but dropped it and didn’t make a throw.

Cincinnati 14, Arizona 2--Aaron Boone had a career-high five RBIs and Barry Larkin went four for four, including a double in the Reds’ five-run first inning at Phoenix.

Boone, Chris Stynes and Alex Ochoa each had three hits for the Reds, who finished with a season-high 20 off six pitchers. The 14 runs were the most by a visiting team at Bank One Ballpark.

Omar Daal (2-9), who has not pitched past the fifth inning in his last three starts, gave up seven runs and seven hits in 1 1/3 innings with three walks--two intentional.

Houston 6, St. Louis 3--Richard Hidalgo hit two home runs and Scott Elarton pitched six strong innings for his third win in a row as the Astros avoided a three-game sweep at St. Louis.

Jeff Bagwell hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning and Hidalgo had solo shots in the second and fourth off Darryl Kile (11-5).

Mark McGwire’s home run streak at Busch Stadium ended at five games. He went one for four with an RBI single in the sixth inning and struck out twice.

Philadelphia 9, Pittsburgh 1--Rob Ducey homered twice and drove in a career-high five runs and rookie Pat Burrell went four for four, leading Curt Schilling and the Phillies at home.

Schilling (4-4) struck out 10 and walked none in seven innings. He gave up one run and eight hits, two of them a ground-rule double and single on his first three pitches.

Florida 2, Montreal 1--Mark Smith hit two home runs and Reid Cornelius shut down the Expos for eight innings, giving the Marlins a three-game sweep at Montreal.

Milwaukee 4, Chicago 2--Charlie Hayes’ two-run double capped a three-run eighth inning as the Brewers rallied to beat the Cubs at Milwaukee.