Mets Give Johnson a Little Extra and Win

Randy Johnson piled up more big numbers Sunday. Not only strikeouts, but doubles and home runs allowed this time.

“I feel like I let one get away,” Johnson said after getting a no-decision in his worst outing of the year, the New York Mets’ 7-6 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Shea Stadium.

Johnson, who won his first seven starts before losing at Montreal last week, struck out 13 in 6 2/3 innings. He also gave up five runs and eight hits--all for extra bases.

He had yielded only 15 extra-base hits in 74 1/3 innings coming in and hadn’t given up more than two earned runs in any appearance.

“His mistakes, there aren’t many of them, and you have to jump on them when you can,” said Mike Piazza, who drove a 492-foot home run into the left-field mezzanine.

“Piazza hit a ball that’s probably still circling the stadium right now,” Johnson said a half hour after the game.

New York’s first three batters--Joe McEwing, Derek Bell and Edgardo Alfonzo, doubled on consecutive pitches in the first inning for a 2-1 lead, and Piazza’s 12th homer tied the score at 3-3.

After Travis Lee’s two-run homer off Rick Reed put Arizona ahead, 5-3, in the sixth, Johnson blew it in the seventh, giving up solo homers to McEwing and Edgardo Alfonzo--who also homered off him in the opener of last year’s playoffs.

New York, which completed a three-game sweep and stretched its winning streak to four, fell behind again on Steve Finley’s eighth-inning homer off Dennis Cook, but Robin Ventura tied it with a pinch-hit homer in the bottom half off Mike Morgan.

The Mets won it in the ninth against Byung-Hyun Kim (2-2) when McEwing walked, stole second and scored on Bell’s single, barely beyond the reach of a diving Lee in right. It was the Mets’ 10th hit of the game--and their first single.

Johnson matched his season strikeout high, reaching double figures for the ninth time in 10 starts this year and the 134th time in his career, but his league-leading earned-run average rose from 0.97 to 1.44.

While he walked only two--one intentionally--he struggled with his control and kept the damage down only because he stranded runners who reached second with no outs three times.

Atlanta 12, San Diego 6--Brian Jordan homered twice and drove in a career-high seven runs at Atlanta to help the Braves win for the eighth time in nine games.

Jordan hit a two-run homer in the sixth and a three-run shot in the eighth to break his previous high for RBIs. Twice, he drove in six runs, the last in 1996 when he played for the Cardinals.

Jordan has eight homers in the last 10 games, including three two-homer games. He also had two run-scoring singles, raising his average to .330.

St. Louis 7, Pittsburgh 5--Mark McGwire hit a two-run homer--the 540th of his career--and drove in three runs as the Cardinals overcame four Pirate homers at Pittsburgh.

It was McGwire’s major league-leading 18th homer and fourth in four games and left him eight behind Mike Schmidt, who ranks eighth on the all-time list with 548.

Montreal 8, Houston 3--Lee Stevens hit a three-run homer and rookie Andy Tracy also homered off Jose Lima as the Expos completed a three-game sweep before 20,111, the largest crowd at Olympic Stadium since opening day.

The Astros lost their fifth in a row. Lima (1-7) gave up seven runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings, giving him an 8.77 ERA. Lima has yielded 19 home runs in nine starts this season.

San Francisco 16, Milwaukee 10--J.T. Snow hit a grand slam to cap an 11-run sixth inning as the Giants snapped an eight-game losing streak.

Terrell Lowery had a career-high five hits and Armando Rios drove in four runs for the Giants, who won on the last day of a nine-game road trip.

The 11 runs tied Milwaukee’s franchise record for runs allowed in an inning and were the most scored by the Giants since July 15, 1997.

Philadelphia 4, Colorado 3--Brian Hunter hit a grand slam and Robert Person struck out 10 as the Phillies completed a rough homestand with a 2-7 record.

Person (4-2) was overpowering from the start as he struck out five of the first nine batters. Person, who has won three of his last four starts, yielded one run and five hits.

Chicago 4, Cincinnati 2--The Cubs used a wild throw by catcher Eddie Taubensee to score two sixth-inning runs and went on to win at Wrigley Field.

Damon Buford led off the inning with a double and one out later, Eric Young walked. When they took off on a double steal, Taubensee’s throw sailed into left field and both runners scored. Ricky Gutierrez followed with a homer and the Cubs had a 3-0 lead.