Arizona Win Is 7th in Row

Reggie Sanders is one of baseball’s streaky hitters. When he’s on, he can hit the ball a mile.

Take Friday night, for example.

Sanders hit two home runs, one the third-longest at Bank One Ballpark, as the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Chicago Cubs, 7-2, at Phoenix for their seventh consecutive victory.

Sanders’ two-run blast against Kevin Tapani in the seventh, which broke a 1-1 tie, sailed 460 feet into the eating area at a restaurant beyond left field. Only Scott Rolen’s 473-footer and Matt Williams’ 468-footer, both in May 1999, went farther.

“It felt effortless,” Sanders said. “I just got into a good hitting position, saw it and put the head of the bat on it. It was a fastball up, and I think that’s the farthest I’ve hit a baseball in a game.”

Sanders has 25 homers, three shy of the career high he set with the Cincinnati Reds in 1995.

Byung-Hyun Kim came on to strike out Sammy Sosa with the tying run on third and two outs in the eighth to end the inning. The crowd of 42,667 was as loud as anybody could remember.

“I got goose bumps in the dugout, and I’m not even playing,” Arizona Manager Bob Brenly said.

Sosa, who struck out four times in the game, is 0 for 7 with five strikeouts against Kim.

“They got me tonight. That’s all I have to say,” Sosa said. “Tomorrow’s another day. I had a tough day at the plate, but it doesn’t mean the world is going to be ending.”

The Diamondbacks blew the game open with four runs in the eighth, including a two-run single by Kim, his first major league hit.

Albie Lopez (2-3) pitched six shutout innings for the Diamondbacks before a two-out double by Ricky Gutierrez and Ron Coomer’s run-scoring single in the seventh pulled the Cubs even at 1-1. It ended a string of 13 consecutive scoreless innings for Lopez, who came to the Diamondbacks in a trade with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on July 25.

Lopez suffered a twisted right ankle while jumping in excitement after striking out Sosa in the first inning. Lopez stayed in the game, but developed cramps in both calves and struggled through the last three innings.

It was the third consecutive strong showing by Lopez after a shaky start with the Diamondbacks.

“I’m trying not to do too much,” he said. “I’m just trying to do what I can do. I can’t go out there and try to be a [Curt] Schilling or try to be a [Randy] Johnson. I’ve got to try to be myself.”

Still, Lopez matched his season high with eight strikeouts, including Sosa three times. He gave up five hits and walked none to win his second in a row.

“I’ll tell you, that was quite a gutsy performance by Albie Lopez,” Brenly said. “He made some great pitches on some great hitters tonight and gave us exactly what we needed in a big series.”

Tapani (8-10) fell to 0-9 in his last 13 starts. He gave up three runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings and struck out four without a walk. In those 13 starts, the Cubs have scored only 20 runs.

“It’s amazing,” Coomer said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve played 14 years and I’ve never seen a pitcher pitch as good as he has and get the results that he has.”

St. Louis 4, Philadelphia 3--Placido Polanco’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the ninth inning at St. Louis extended the Cardinals’ winning streak to nine games.

Edgar Renteria led off the inning with a single against Turk Wendell (4-5). Bobby Bonilla, who entered in a double switch in the ninth, singled with one out. Renteria took third when Doug Glanville bobbled the ball for an error.

An intentional walk to Fernando Vina loaded the bases before Polanco’s drive to deep center.

Montreal 4, San Diego 0--Javier Vazquez extended his scoreless innings streak to 20, giving up four hits in eight innings at San Diego.

Vazquez (12-11) retired 15 of his final 17 batters and set a career high for victories. Scott Strickland pitched the ninth to complete the Expos’ eighth shutout.

Colorado 12, Florida 5--Jose Ortiz hit three home runs, Juan Uribe had a three-run triple and the Rockies erased a five-run deficit at Denver to hand the Marlins their fifth consecutive loss.

Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the fifth and solo homers in the sixth and the eight for the first multihomer game of his career. Ortiz became the ninth player in Rocky history to hit three home runs in a game.

Houston 6, Pittsburgh 5--Moises Alou and Richard Hidalgo homered and Dave Mlicki scattered five hits in six innings to lead the Astros at Houston.

The Pirates have lost five in a row and nine of 11.

Mlicki (4-0) gave up three runs, two earned. He walked one and didn’t strike out a batter.