Getting Johnson Angry Only Makes Padres Latest Victim

Seven starts, seven victories for Randy Johnson.

Johnson, whose temper flared when he was hit in the left elbow by a Sterling Hitchcock pitch in the second inning, pitched a five-hit complete game Friday night that led the Arizona Diamondbacks over the San Diego Padres, 5-3, at Phoenix.

Johnson (7-0), the third pitcher in modern baseball history to win six games in April, kept it going in May and even extended his hitting streak to five games by going two for three with a RBI single in the eighth.

Damian Miller and Danny Klassen homered ahead of Johnson in the second to make it 3-0. On a 1-2 count, a pitch from Hitchcock (0-4) glanced off Johnson’s left elbow.

Johnson, who had 10 of his 11 strikeouts in the first five innings, pointed his bat at the Padres’ pitcher, shouted angrily and took a couple of steps toward the mound. Both dugouts and bullpens emptied, but order was quickly restored.

Cincinnati 3, St. Louis 2--Mark McGwire hit the longest measured homer in Cincinnati, a 473-foot drive into the upper deck of Cinergy Field, but Ken Griffey Jr.’s more modest homer led the Reds over the Cardinals.

The 42,126 fans marveled at McGwire’s homer, which was the farthest of the 31 hit into the upper deck in the stadium’s 30-year history.

Griffey broke a 2-2 tie with a solo homer in the sixth that landed in the second deck in right field, an estimated 432 feet away. Griffey also had a run-scoring single in the first inning off Andy Benes (2-2).

Atlanta 6, Philadelphia 5--John Rocker squandered a three-run lead in the top of the ninth inning for his first blown save opportunity but Andruw Jones hit a two-run homer in the bottom half to give the Braves the win at Atlanta.

Rocker relieved with a 4-1 lead, but couldn’t get through the inning. Rudy Seanez (1-0) had to get the final out, then picked up the win when Jones homered to center field against Wayne Gomes (1-2). Atlanta extended its home winning streak to 12.

New York 4, Florida 1--Al Leiter stopped the Mets’ losing streak at four games as he allowed four hits in seven innings and struck out nine at Miami.

New York, which had lost seven of its previous nine, improved to 6-0 this season with Leiter (3-0) on the mound. After Pat Mahomes threw a hitless eighth inning, John Franco pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save since last June 24, the 417th of his career.

Pittsburgh 4, Chicago 2--Wil Cordero and Luis Sojo each hit solo home runs and Todd Ritchie pitched the Pirates to a victory at Chicago.

Ritchie (2-1) gave up two runs on eight hits and one walk over 7 1/3 innings, striking out eight. Mike Williams got the final three outs for his fourth save as the Pirates won for only the second time in 13 games at Wrigley Field.

Montreal 10, Milwaukee 2--Vladimir Guerrero hit a three-run homer and Rondell White nearly hit a ball out of County Stadium as the Expos scored all their runs in the first two innings at Milwaukee.

San Francisco 5, Colorado 0--Joe Nathan combined with two relievers on a three-hitter and J.T. Snow homered at San Francisco to give the Giants their fifth consecutive win and 11th in 13 games.