Cardinals Chase Johnson in 7-3 Victory

A dominating pitching performance was expected Tuesday at St. Louis. It figured, because Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks was in town.

Instead, it was Garrett Stephenson who put on the show.

Fernando Tatis hit the fourth grand slam of his career and the Cardinals chased Johnson during a six-run sixth inning Tuesday night to beat the Diamondbacks, 7-3.

“I gave it everything I had,” said Stephenson (11-6), who gave up three runs and five hits in eight innings. “Thank goodness that my defense and offense took over.”

Johnson (15-3) lasted only 5 2/3 innings in his shortest outing of the season, giving up five runs--four earned--and five hits with seven strikeouts.

He had completed six innings in 40 consecutive starts since a 10-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves on June 20, 1999. It was only the sixth time in 22 starts this season that Johnson didn’t reach double digits in strikeouts.

“I never got ahead of hitters,” Johnson said. “I found myself behind in the count most of the night against a very good team. You can’t pitch like that and expect to be successful.”

New York 5, Montreal 0--Mike Piazza had three hits and two runs batted in to back the stellar pitching of Glendon Rusch at New York.

Piazza delivered an RBI single in the first inning to give the Mets the only run they would need. He drove in another run with a fifth-inning single, and also singled in the third. He finished three for four in the Mets’ first game after an 11-game trip.

Milwaukee 4, Pittsburgh 1--Jose Hernandez drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the 11th inning at Pittsburgh and the Brewers ended a four-game losing streak.

Hernandez’s hit came against Jason Christiansen (2-8), who got one out before giving up a double, Geoff Jenkins’ third hit of the game. Charlie Hayes was intentionally walked and Jeromy Burnitz drew another walk to load the bases before Hernandez lined a single to right. The Brewers added a run when Tyler Houston executed a squeeze bunt.

Atlanta 6, Florida 5--Javy Lopez hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the sixth inning and Tom Glavine kept pitching out of trouble at Atlanta in posting his 199th career victory.

Glavine (12-5) gave up 11 hits--all singles--in 6 2/3 innings to win his fifth consecutive start, while his counterpart, Ryan Dempster, gave up only four hits. Overall, the Marlins outhit the Braves, 15-6, but left 11 runners on base and made five errors, tying a franchise record.

Glavine escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the sixth, getting nemesis Mike Redmond to hit into a double play that kept the score at 3-3.

In the bottom half, with two out and two runners on, Dempster tried to sneak a fastball by Lopez, who wasn’t fooled. He sent it over the 380-foot sign in left for his 16th homer.

Chicago 8, Philadelphia 7--Damon Buford drove in three runs at Philadelphia, including a tiebreaking triple in the eighth inning, to lead the Cubs to their season-high fourth consecutive victory.

The Cubs squandered a 6-2 lead before rallying in the eighth. Sammy Sosa opened the inning with a walk against Chris Brock (5-5). After Gary Matthews Jr. hit into a forceout, Buford tripled into the left-center field gap to give the Cubs the lead. One out later, Joe Girardi tripled to make the score 8-6.

Houston 7, Cincinnati 4--Jeff Bagwell’s two-run homer in the ninth inning completed another late comeback at Cincinnati as the Astros stretched their season-high winning streak to four games.

For the second consecutive night, the Reds’ bullpen failed to hold a three-run lead.

“It wasn’t very pretty,” Red Manager Jack McKeon said. “We had the lead but we couldn’t hold them. Once again, bases on balls killed us. When it rains it pours, don’t it? We’ve seen that before.”