Bordick Off to Great Start With Mets

With his first swing, shortstop Mike Bordick put himself in the New York Mets’ record book. With his last, he put his new team in position to win.

Bordick homered on the first pitch he saw, then singled in the eighth inning to set up the tiebreaking run and give the victory to fellow newcomer Rick White as the Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3, Saturday at New York.

“The most exciting thing is to get a win and see how much energy is involved in a pennant chase,” Bordick said. “It was definitely one of the greatest highlights of my career.”

A day after the Mets made trades with Baltimore and Tampa Bay, they got instant results. Pinch-hitter Lenny Harris’ RBI single gave the Mets their fifth consecutive victory and made them 5-0 against the Cardinals this season.

White (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth. He walked two, and struck out pinch-hitter Shawon Dunston to escape.

“I haven’t had that feeling since I first came up in ‘94,” White said.

Bordick, obtained from the Orioles for Melvin Mora and three minor leagues, was acquired mainly for his glove but made an immediate impact with his bat, leading off the third with a high drive over the left-field fence against Andy Benes.

Bordick became the first Met to homer in his first at-bat since Todd Pratt in 1997.

Mike Piazza hit a 455-foot home run for the Mets.

Jim Edmonds hit his 30th homer and Ray Lankford also connected for the Cardinals, who lost their third in a row.

Robin Ventura, activated from the 15-day disabled list, drew a leadoff walk from Mike James (0-2) to start the eighth.

White, traded with outfielder Bubba Trammell from Tampa Bay for outfielder Jason Tyner and pitcher Paul Wilson, worked the eighth and Armando Benitez pitched the ninth for his 25th save.

Chicago 8, San Francisco 1--The ball was bouncing Kerry Wood’s way as the Cubs beat the Giants at Chicago. Besides giving up only one run and three hits in six innings, Wood hit a two-run single over second baseman Jeff Kent to spark a six-run fifth inning.

Wood (6-6) has won three consecutive starts for the first time since July 21-31, 1998.

Atlanta 13, Houston 5--Wally Joyner hit his 200th home run and drove in four runs, and John Burkett pitched seven innings for the first time in more than two months to lead the Braves over the Astros at Atlanta.

Joyner needs four hits to reach 2,000. A career .290 hitter entering the season, Joyner, backing up Andres Galarraga at first base, batted .147 in May and only .133 in June. This month, though, he is batting .299 with three homers and 13 RBIs. With Galarraga nursing a sprained left thumb, Joyner has made six straight starts.

Colorado 10, Milwaukee 2--Jeffrey Hammonds hit a two-run homer in the first inning and had three hits and three RBIs as the Rockies ended a 10-game road losing streak by routing the Brewers at Milwaukee.

The Rockies spoiled the Brewer debut of Paul Rigdon (0-1), acquired Friday in a seven-player trade with Cleveland. Rigdon sandwiched two strikeouts around a single by Neifi Perez before Hammonds lined the first pitch 370 feet for his 17th homer of the season.

Cincinnati 4, Montreal 3--Eddie Taubensee hit a tying homer with two out in the ninth inning and homered again in the 11th as the Reds won at Montreal.

Taubensee’s last home run was May 3 at Philadelphia.

Pittsburgh 10, San Diego 2--Brian Giles went five for five with two run-scoring doubles and Francisco Cordova came off the disabled list to pitch five effective innings as the Pirates routed the Padres at Pittsburgh.

The Pirates wore vest-style jerseys like those of their 1960 World Series champions, and the Padres wore replicas of the baggy, all-brown uniforms of their 1969 expansion team.

“We played like the ’69 Padres and they played like the ’60 Pirates,” Manager Bruce Bochy said. “It was just ugly.”