Arizona Ends Slide in Style

Luis Gonzalez and the Arizona Diamondbacks had a simple strategy for dealing with Rick Ankiel.

“He’s a young pitcher who gets a lot of strikeouts, so we thought he might tire himself out,” Gonzalez said after driving in three runs Thursday night in the Diamondbacks’ 17-5 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals at St. Louis.

Danny Bautista homered twice, and Alex Cabrera and Gonzalez also connected as the Diamondbacks ended a four-game losing streak.

Cabrera was three for six with four runs batted in, while Bautista and Gonzalez each went three for five with three RBIs. Greg Colbrunn was four for five and also drove in three runs as Arizona piled on 19 hits and scored the most runs against the Cardinals this season.

“You hope it’s going to pay off when the strikes are piling up and tonight it did,” Colbrunn said. “His pitches started getting up in the zone.”

Ankiel (7-6) struck out 10 in 4 2/3 innings but gave up six runs and six hits.

“He’s got a lot of talent, but all those strikeouts can take a toll on you,” Arizona Manager Buck Showalter said.

Ankiel reached double digits in strikeouts for the fifth time in 19 starts.

“The strikeouts don’t matter,” he said. “Unfortunately for the team, I was getting the ball up.”

Florida 12, Atlanta 4--Cliff Floyd homered against Greg Maddux in a three-run sixth inning to start the Marlins’ comeback, and Mike Lowell later hit a grand slam at Atlanta.

Chuck Smith (1-3), a 30-year-old rookie, got his first major league victory, helping the Marlins end a five-game losing streak. He gave up two runs and six hits in five innings, walked four and struck out two.

Maddux (12-5) allowed only one runner past first base in the first five innings and led, 2-0.

The Marlins, who outhit the Braves, 15-8, tied the score in the sixth on Floyd’s one-out homer, the 15th against Maddux this season, and consecutive two-out singles by Lowell, Derrek Lee and Alex Gonzalez, the latter a one-hopper over third baseman Chipper Jones.

Ramon Castro’s bloop single to right scored Lee for a 3-2 lead.

Maddux gave up three more runs in the seventh.

Milwaukee 4, Pittsburgh 3--Pinch-hitter Tyler Houston homered to break a ninth-inning tie at Pittsburgh.

Houston, batting for Angel Echevarria, drove a 2-and-0 pitch from Josias Manzanillo (1-1) over the right-field wall for his 14th home run. Houston had been 0 for 6 as a pinch-hitter this season.

Curtis Leskanic (2-2) pitched a perfect eighth for his second victory in the series and Bob Wickman finished for his 16th save.

New York 4-9, Montreal 3-8--Mike Hampton pitched a seven-hitter and Jay Payton scored on his own two-run double in the nightcap as the Mets completed a sloppy doubleheader sweep at New York.

In the opener, Benny Agbayani went four for five with three runs batted in and Matt Franco had two run-scoring singles, including a tiebreaking hit in the eighth inning, as the Mets rallied from a five-run deficit.

A full day of rain that caused a postponement Wednesday left puddles on the outfield warning track and fielders slipping. The play, including nine errors, matched the field condition.

Chicago 4, Philadelphia 1--Ricky Gutierrez hit a go-ahead triple as the Cubs extended their longest winning streak of the season to six games, completing a three-game sweep at Philadelphia.

Steve Rain (2-0) struck out three and walked none in 2 1/3 hitless innings as the Cubs won for the 12th time in 15 games. Rick Aguilera got three outs for his 23rd save in 30 chances.

With the score tied, 1-1, pinch-hitter Brant Brown singled against Vicente Padilla (2-2) leading off the ninth. One out later, Gutierrez tripled to the gap in right-center, then scored on Sammy Sosa’s sacrifice fly. Damon Buford added an RBI single against Ed Vosberg.