Victory Puts Arizona Back in First
Luis Gonzalez hit his 43rd home run and Randy Johnson allowed two hits over seven innings as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Mets, 7-0, Friday night at Phoenix to move into first place in the National League West.
Gonzalez moved within three of major league home run leader Barry Bonds. He had two RBIs to raise his total to 106, tops in both leagues.
Matt Williams added his eighth home run for the Diamondbacks, who won for just the second time in their last eight games.
But Arizona regained first place in the NL West for the first time since July 26 as the Dodgers lost to the Chicago Cubs.
On Randy Johnson Bobblehead Night, the 6-foot-10 ace struck out eight, walked two and lowered his earned-run average to an NL-best 2.45. It was the fifth time this season Johnson (14-5) pitched at least seven innings and held the opposition scoreless. Troy Brohawn pitched the final two innings.
The Diamondbacks took a 1-0 lead against Al Leiter (6-9) on Mark Grace’s first-inning RBI single, then blew the game open in the third.
Craig Counsell led off with a walk and Junior Spivey lined a run-scoring double into the left-field corner to make it 2-0. Gonzalez then hit a ground-rule double over the right-field fence to score Spivey.
Two outs later, Williams hit a towering, 415-foot homer into the picnic area overhanging the center-field wall to extend the lead to 5-0.
Leiter lasted only four innings, his shortest outing since April 20 when he went three innings in a 9-5 loss to Cincinnati. He gave up five runs and eight hits.
Counsell added a run-scoring single in the sixth--his third hit of the night--off Grant Roberts to make it 6-0.
San Francisco 4, Philadelphia 2--At San Francisco, Andres Galarraga kept the Giants undefeated since he joined them, hitting a two-out, two-run home run in the ninth inning for their ninth straight victory.
With one out, Rheal Cormier (5-6) hit Barry Bonds with a pitch on his heavily padded right elbow. After Turk Wendell struck out Jeff Kent, Galarraga hit Wendell’s 2-1 pitch over the center-field fence for his second homer in nine games with the Giants.
San Francisco started its winning streak after the “Big Cat” arrived in a trade with Texas last week.
With yet another victory, the Giants (61-49) caught the Dodgers in the standings and stayed a half-game behind Arizona.
The Phillies, trying to catch Atlanta in the NL East, lost on a game-ending home run for the fourth time in a week.
Rich Aurilia hit a two-run homer for the Giants, who extended their longest winning streak since last September.
Milwaukee 3, Atlanta 2--Pinch-runner Lou Collier scored on a wild pitch by Jose Cabrera in the 11th inning, giving the Brewers a victory over the Braves at Milwaukee.
Pinch-hitter Angel Echevarria doubled off Cabrera (6-3) to open the 11th, and Collier was sacrificed to third by Ronnie Belliard. With a 2-1 count on Luis Lopez, Collier scored when Cabrera bounced a pitch past catcher Paul Bako.
Atlanta’s Javy Lopez doubled with one out off Curtis Leskanic in the 10th and pinch-runner Mark DeRosa scored on a two-out double by pinch-hitter Keith Lockhart.
The Brewers tied it in the bottom half after Devon White led off with a single against Steve Karsay. White stole second, continued to third on a throwing error by Bako and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jose Hernandez.
Houston 6, Montreal 2--Brad Ausmus hit a three-run home run, leading Shane Reynolds and the Astros past the Expos at Houston.
Ausmus, hitting only .196, was in a 0-for-11 slump when he connected in the fourth inning.
Reynolds (10-10) gave up seven hits in his third complete game this season. He struck out five and walked none.
Tony Armas (8-11) gave up five runs and 10 hits in four innings. He has lost six of his last seven decisions with a 6.33 ERA in that span.
Cincinnati 9, San Diego 2--A day after the Reds hit six home runs, Dmitri Young, Jason LaRue and Pokey Reese hit consecutive homers in the sixth inning at San Diego, leading Cincinnati to an easy victory.
Ray Lankford homered in his debut for the Padres, but Cincinnati still extended its winning streak to a season-best seven games.
Young and LaRue each homered twice Thursday against the Dodgers. Young led off the sixth by hitting the first pitch from Kevin Jarvis (8-9) just inside the right-field foul pole for his 14th homer.
LaRue followed two pitches later with his 10th homer, and Reese just reached the stands in left field for his seventh of the season to give the Reds a 6-1 lead.
St. Louis 9-4, Florida 5-6--Derrek Lee’s tiebreaking home run in the ninth inning helped the Marlins earn a split of the doubleheader at St. Louis.
Lee led off the ninth with his 15th home run, hitting a 3-2 pitch from Dave Veres (1-2) over the left-field wall and into the bullpen. Lee is batting .367 with four homers and 13 RBIs in his last 16 games.
Matt Morris gave up five runs in the first inning of the opener, then pitched six shutout innings. He also had a two-run single in the Cardinals’ three-run third inning.
Colorado 12, Pittsburgh 7--Struggling Mike Hampton overcame a shaky start and Todd Helton had four hits as the Rockies outlasted the Pirates at Denver.
The Rockies led, 6-4, after the first inning and sent Pittsburgh to its fourth consecutive loss.
Hampton (11-8), who had been 1-6 with a 9.14 ERA in his last eight starts, held on for seven innings. He gave up six runs and nine hits.
Sal Fasano hit his first National League home run, and Jeff Cirillo, Terry Shumpert and Juan Uribe each drove in two runs for Colorado.