Mets Play Long Ball and Sweep Cardinals

Perhaps someone should tell the New York Mets that it’s the St. Louis Cardinals who are supposed to hit the home runs.

Todd Pratt, Todd Zeile and Edgardo Alfonzo homered and the Mets completed a three-game sweep, defeating the Cardinals, 6-2, Sunday.

“This gets us into the right frame of mind,” Zeile said. “We’ve been playing a little bit sporadically. This last stretch has been a little bit better for us.”

The Cardinals hit only two home runs in the series, and none Sunday. They lead the majors with 98 in 49 games, and need two today at Arizona to tie the record for quickest to 100--Seattle hit 100 in 50 games last season.

New York, which has 38 home runs in its last 25 games, became the first team to sweep the Cardinals this season.

Zeile hit his ninth homer in the second for a 1-0 lead. It was his third of the series--he hit a first-inning solo homer and a game-winning grand slam Saturday.

Houston 4, Atlanta 3--The Astros set a club record by hitting a homer in their 15th consecutive game, Ken Caminiti and Lance Berkman connecting in the eighth inning at Houston.

Berkman hit a solo shot with one out off Rudy Seanez (2-3). After Jeff Bagwell walked, Caminiti followed with his 13th homer to give the Astros a 4-3 lead.

There have been 95 home runs in 25 games at new Enron Field this season. In Houston’s final season in the Astrodome, there were 118 home runs.

Colorado 11, Pittsburgh 2--Rolando Arrojo pitched seven innings for his first victory in nearly seven weeks as the Rockies improved to 16-6 at Coors Field.

Arrojo (2-4), who had lost four consecutive decisions, gave up two runs and six hits. He struck out eight and walked one in his first victory since April 10, a span of seven starts.

Tom Goodwin had three hits and scored three runs and Mike Lansing homered and had three RBIs. Colorado first baseman Todd Helton went three for four to raise his major league-leading average to .415.

Chicago 4, San Francisco 1--Kerry Wood, helped by an unusual double play, won for the second time in five starts since his May 2 return from the disabled list. He sat out all of last season after undergoing reconstructive elbow surgery.

With the Cubs leading, 3-0, in the fifth, Wood walked Rich Aurilia and gave up a run-scoring double to Doug Mirabelli. With one out, Armando Rios and Bill Mueller walked to load the bases for Barry Bonds.

Bonds hit a popup that went straight up. Catcher Joe Girardi, Wood and Bonds, all apparently unable to see the ball against the bright sky at San Francisco, barely moved and the base runners also held.

When the ball landed in fair territory just in front of home plate, Girardi stepped on home for the force and then threw out Bonds at first to complete an inning-ending double play.

San Diego 4, Montreal 3--Al Martin drove in the first three runs and the go-ahead run scored when Expo third baseman Andy Tracy dropped a popup as the Padres rallied to win four straight for the first time since last July 10-16.

Martin, who was two for 32 with runners in scoring position this season, had a run-scoring double in the bottom of the first inning and a two-run single in the fifth.

Milwaukee 4, Arizona 3--Marquis Grissom run-scoring single in the 11th inning helped stop the Diamondbacks’ team-record 11-game home winning streak.

With two out, Charlie Hayes walked, took second on a single by Jose Hernandez and scored on Grissom’s single. In all, Grissom drove in three runs.

Jeromy Burnitz tied the score at 3-3 in the eighth inning with a homer into the pool area in right-center. Arizona’s Tony Womack extended his hitting streak to 23 games, longest in the majors this season.

Florida 3, Cincinnati 1--Danny Bautista’s three-run homer in the eighth inning gave the Marlins, who stopped an eight-game losing streak Saturday night, their first series victory at Cinergy Field since September 1996.

Luis Castillo stole three bases for the Marlins. He leads the majors with 22 steals.