Vina Leads Cardinals Past the Pirates, 19-4

When the St. Louis offense gets rolling, it can be difficult to stop. On Saturday night, it was unstoppable.

Fernando Vina’s three-run homer in the second inning was one of three home runs the Cardinals hit at Pittsburgh, giving them a major league leading 88. When the game ended, the Cardinals had defeated the Pirates, 19-4, in their highest-scoring game in 23 years.

The 19 runs were the most by the Cardinals since they scored 21 against the Cubs on April 27, 1977. The outburst, which came against five Pirate pitchers and one Pirate catcher, surpassed their previous season’s high by five runs.

The Cardinals scored seven runs in the eighth, then added five more in the ninth off Pirate utility man Keith Osik, who yielded a two-run home run to pinch-hitter Thomas Howard an inning after hitting a two-run homer himself.

“That had to be a first,” Pirate outfielder Brian Giles said. “You may never see that again. At least he worked fast and threw strikes.”

Atlanta 10, San Diego 6--Keith Lockhart, filling in for the injured Quilvio Veras, homered for the first time in nearly a year as the Braves defeated the Padres at Atlanta.

Rookie Rafael Furcal drove in three runs for the Braves, who have won seven of eight and have scored 56 runs during that span.

Veras, Atlanta’s regular leadoff hitter, couldn’t play after getting hit on the right knee by a pitch Friday night.

Milwaukee 7, San Francisco 0--Jose Hernandez’s grand slam capped a six-run first inning as the Brewers cruised past the Giants at Milwaukee.

Jeff D’Amico made a remarkable return to County Stadium, giving up four hits over seven shutout innings in his first start in Milwaukee since Sept. 27, 1997. After missing all but one inning of the last two seasons because of shoulder problems, he has given up one earned run in three starts this year for an 0.43 earned-run average.

Montreal 8, Houston 7--Rondell White tied a team record with three doubles and Peter Bergeron hit a home run as the Expos built an 8-2 lead before holding off the Astros at Montreal.

Hideki Irabu gave up six hits and three runs in six innings for his first victory in seven starts. Irabu also drove in a run for the first time in his career with a single in the second inning.

Colorado 4, Philadelphia 3--Kevin Jarvis and four Colorado relievers combined on a two-hitter and Neifi Perez singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth as the Rockies won at Philadelphia.

The Phillies lost for the seventh time in eight games. Third baseman Scott Rolen did not play because of soreness in his legs and back, and will not play today.

New York 8, Arizona 7--Not affected by a 3-hour, 31-minute rain delay, Mike Hampton pitched six scoreless innings and hit a two-run single as the Mets held off the Diamondbacks at New York.

Arizona rallied for five runs in the ninth, capped by Kelly Stinnett’s two-out, two-run single off John Franco. Armando Benitez relieved with runners at first and second and struck out pinch-hitter Erubiel Durazo for his 11th save.

Cincinnati 5, Chicago 3--Ron Villone won his fourth consecutive start as the Reds scored five runs in the first two innings to defeat the Cubs at Chicago.

Villone improved to 6-1.