An Unusual Ending to Cardinals’ Streak

The St. Louis Cardinals’ longest winning streak in 19 years had a bizarre ending.

The Cardinals blew leads in the ninth and 10th innings, and Ken Griffey Jr. had an inside-the-park home run in the 11th inning Monday night, lifting the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-4 victory at Cincinnati.

St. Louis had its winning streak end at 11 games--its longest since 1982--and could only stand and watch in disbelief as the Reds celebrated the end of their eight-game losing streak.

Griffey’s drive off Andy Benes (7-7) deflected off the wall in center field and took an odd carom off Jim Edmonds, who had jumped for the ball. It scooted along the warning track into left field, giving Griffey plenty of time to circle the bases and slide into home.

The loss dropped the Cardinals three games behind Houston in the National League Central.

The Cardinals took a 2-1 lead into the ninth on the strength of two home runs. Albert Pujols became the first to clear the majors’ tallest wall, hitting a ball over the 40-foot barrier in center field in the fourth. J.D. Drew homered in the eighth for a 2-1 lead.

Mike Timlin got the first out in the ninth before Pokey Reese singled. The game began to take a strange turn when Timlin fielded Wilton Guerrero’s high-hop grounder, then threw wildly to first for an error that sent Reese to third.

Second baseman Fernando Vina charged and missed Griffey’s soft grounder, was run over by Guerrero and called for obstruction, prompting the Cardinals to play under protest.

It seemed a moot point when first baseman Sean Casey misplayed Bobby Bonilla’s grounder for a run-scoring error and Edmonds had a run-scoring single off Danny Graves in the 10th.

Benes, trying for his first save since 1994, gave up consecutive one-out home runs by Todd Walker and Kelly Stinnett in the bottom of the inning. Left-handed pinch-hitter Dennys Reyes grounded to Edgar Renteria and got to second base when the shortstop bounced his throw for another error.

Edmonds caught Reese’s fly to deep center for the second out, but evidently thought it was the third out. He took his time turning to the infield and pinch-runner Lance Davis tagged and was waved home, only to be caught in a rundown.

Chicago 7-2, Milwaukee 4-10--Jamey Wright won for the first time in six weeks and Kevin Brown hit a three-run home run as the Brewers managed to earn a split of a doubleheader at Chicago.

In the opener, Sammy Sosa hit his 45th home run and Delino DeShields hit a tie-breaking, bases-loaded triple with two out in the eighth inning.

Sosa hit his 46th homer in the second game, his 11th in 16 games, but it wasn’t nearly enough for the second-place Cubs, who stayed two games behind Houston in the NL Central.

An MRI of Kerry Wood’s sore right shoulder showed no damage, but the Chicago Cub right-hander is expected to be out until Sept. 1. . . . Colorado left-hander Brian Bohanon is scheduled to have season-ending elbow surgery Wednesday. . . . The Cubs purchased the contract of right-hander Carlos Zambrano from triple-A Iowa and sent down left-hander Will Ohman. . . . The matchup between Tim Raines Sr. and Tim Jr., the first father vs. son regular-season game in modern baseball history, was rained out in Ottawa. Both were set to play against each other in a triple-A International League game between the Lynx and Rochester Red Wings.