Rockies Stay in the Ballpark With 24 Hits

Even without a home run, the Colorado Rockies found a way to beat up on the Montreal Expos.

Todd Helton and Jeff Cirillo combined for nine singles in nine at-bats as the Rockies set a team record with 24 hits Wednesday in a 16-7 victory over the Montreal Expos at Denver.

“When I go to the plate, I feel like I should get a hit every time up in this park,” Cirillo said. “It’s like a windy day at Wrigley. When the wind’s blowing out at Wrigley Field, you just go up to the plate knowing you have a distinct advantage.”

Helton went five for five for the first five-hit game of his career, and all nine starters, including pitcher Pedro Astacio (3-2), had at least one hit and drove in a run for the Rockies.

Tom Goodwin, Larry Walker, Helton and Cirillo combined to go 14 for 16 with seven runs batted in and 10 runs scored.

“It wasn’t respectively a Coors Field day here,” Colorado hitting coach Clint Hurdle said. “There were no home runs, but 24 hits are 24 hits. Sixteen runs are 16 runs and it was from the top to the bottom of the lineup. Everybody participated.”

Colorado needed only six innings to break its previous record of 21 hits as Darren Bragg singled to right field against reliever Mark Johnson. It was the 18th single of the game for the Rockies, who finished with 20.

San Francisco 8, New York 5--Jeff Kent hit a three-run homer in the 11th inning at San Francisco as the Giants won their third in a row over the Mets.

Marvin Benard opened the 11th with a single against Turk Wendell (2-1) and Barry Bonds walked on four pitches. Kent followed with his seventh homer of the season into the left-field stands.

Felix Rodriguez (1-0) pitched one inning for the victory as the Giants won for the ninth time in 11 games. They got back to .500 (13-13) for the first time since the sixth game of the season.

Pittsburgh 8, St. Louis 2--Kris Benson overcame a four-walk first inning and Brian Giles and Kevin Young homered on consecutive pitches in the sixth for the Pirates at St. Louis.

Benson (2-3) became the first Pittsburgh starter to win two games, working around seven walks and five hits in seven innings. The only damage came on bases-loaded walks to Craig Paquette and J.D. Drew in the first, and he struck out seven.

It was the second consecutive strong effort after a shaky start to the season for Benson, who quieted a lineup that leads the majors with 59 homers. The Cardinals hit four Tuesday night.

Giles hit his sixth homer against Pat Hentgen (3-3) after Jason Kendall drew a leadoff walk in the sixth to put the Pirates ahead, 3-2. Young followed with his fourth homer, giving the Pirates back-to-back homers for the first time this season.

Milwaukee 4, Arizona 1--Horacio Estrada gave up one run in seven innings in his first major league start, and Geoff Jenkins hit his 11th home run at Milwaukee.

Estrada (1-0), who made four relief appearances last season with the Brewers, gave up three hits and three walks, striking out two.

Sean Berry, who entered the game hitting .118, hit a two-run homer against Omar Daal (0-3) in the sixth inning to put the Brewers up 4-1. It was Berry’s first home run since last May 9.

Philadelphia 5, Cincinnati 2--Paul Byrd gave up three hits in seven innings and Bobby Abreu hit a two-run double at Philadelphia as the struggling Phillies ended a four-game losing streak.

It was Philadelphia’s second win in 11 games.

Byrd (1-2), who lowered his earned-run average from 10.19 to 7.66, struck out four, walked one and gave up one run. Eddie Taubensee got the only hits against Byrd, one a seventh-inning homer.

Byrd left the game because of a strained right groin. Wayne Gomes pitched the final two innings.

San Diego 3, Florida 1--Brian Meadows came within two outs of his first shutout, and Phil Nevin homered for the second consecutive game at San Diego.

Meadows (3-2), facing the Marlins for the first time since they traded him to the Padres for reliever Dan Miceli on Nov. 15, gave up five hits and struck out four.

Chicago 4, Houston 3--Jon Lieber, who pitched a complete-game victory against the Astros last week at Houston, gave up three runs and six hits over 7 2/3 innings at Chicago to beat them again.

Damon Buford hit a two-run single, and Eric Young and Henry Rodriguez added RBIs as Chicago got all the offense it needed in the first inning.