Cardinals Turn Back Falling Reds

Ken Griffey Jr. had already homered twice when he came to bat in the eighth inning, pants legs turned up for good luck, with the game on the line.

One pitch later, he headed back to the dugout with his pants legs still high but the Cincinnati Reds headed for yet another low.

Griffey drove in all of Cincinnati’s runs with a pair of homers, but the St. Louis Cardinals got two of their own and got the Reds’ star to hit into a double play in the eighth to preserve a 4-3 victory Tuesday night at Cincinnati.

Jim Edmonds hit a solo homer and Edgar Renteria had a three-run shot to overcome Griffey’s big night and put the Cardinals ahead. Dave Veres held the lead by getting Griffey to ground to Renteria, who turned it into a double play with runners on first and third in the eighth inning.

“Luckily, I think he swung at a ball. He might have reached for it,” Veres said. “Thank goodness.”

The win evened the four-game series between the National League Central’s top teams at one game each and put the Reds farther out of reach, 8 1/2 games behind. It matches the Cardinals’ biggest lead of the season.

“We needed it as a team and we came up big,” said Darryl Kile (11-4), who became the majors’ third 11-game winner.

Montreal 6, Atlanta 4--Jose Vidro, Chris Widger and Lee Stevens homered as the Expos stopped Tom Glavine’s 13-game winning streak against them by beating the Braves at Montreal.

Glavine (7-5), who hadn’t lost to Montreal in 18 starts since Aug. 25, 1992, allowed eight hits in six innings, including homers to Vidro and Widger in the first and Stevens in the third.

Glavine hadn’t allowed three homers in the same game since allowing three to Pittsburgh on July 29, 1991.

New York 5, Florida 2--One night after hitting a season-high five home runs, the Mets rode the pitching of Glendon Rusch, three run-scoring singles and a pair of run-producing outs to their sixth consecutive victory at New York.

New York moved within two games of Atlanta in the National League East, the closest the Mets have been since April, with a four-game showdown between the teams beginning Thursday at Shea Stadium.

Pittsburgh 6, Chicago 0--Todd Ritchie pitched a three-hitter to beat Kerry Wood with his first career shutout in leading the Pirates over the Cubs at Pittsburgh.

With trade talks continuing to swirl around Sammy Sosa, who singled for his only hit in four at-bats, the Cubs (30-45) lost their fifth straight and fell a season-low 15 games below .500.

San Francisco 12, Colorado 7--Shawn Estes pitched seven strong innings, and Rich Aurilia had three hits and four RBIs in the Giants’ win at Denver.

Bobby Estalella and Jeff Kent each homered for the Giants, who scored all but one of their runs with two outs.

Philadelphia 7, Milwaukee 0--Curt Schilling tossed eight shutout innings and Desi Relaford drove in four runs, three on a bases-clearing double at Philadelphia.

It was the third consecutive strong outing for Schilling (3-4), who allowed six hits, struck out six and walked one.

Houston 12, Arizona 4--Moises Alou went four for four for the 14th time in his career and Scott Elarton pitched eight strong innings as the Astros snapped a four-game losing streak with a rout of the Diamondbacks and struggling Omar Daal at Phoenix.