Houston Rallies for Wild Split

Brian Giles’ grand slam capped a seven-run ninth inning that gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a 9-8 victory over the Houston Astros in the opener of a day-night doubleheader Saturday in Pittsburgh, but Houston won the second game, 12-3, behind Jeff Bagwell’s three runs batted in.

Vinny Castilla homered three times for Houston in the first game, and the Pirates trailed, 8-2, with two out and nobody on in the ninth.

Castilla nearly tied a major league record with four homers, but Giles robbed him with a leaping catch at the left-field wall in the fourth inning.

“I hit three home runs, but it wasn’t good enough because we lost the game,” Castilla said. “Everybody is sad because of that. It doesn’t make me happy, because we lose.”

Billy Wagner (2-4) blew his second save in 26 chances, ending his streak of successful conversions at 18. Houston had been 49-0 when leading after eight innings.

Bagwell went three for four with two doubles and scored three runs in the second game as the Astros got to starter Jimmy Anderson (6-10) for eight runs, seven earned, on eight hits in three innings.

Tony McKnight (1-0), called up from the minors to make the start, held the Pirates to two runs on nine hits in seven innings.

St. Louis 7, Chicago 4--Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa homered at Chicago. It was McGwire’s 571st homer, leaving him two behind Harmon Killebrew for fifth place on the career list.

Sosa hit his 35th home run in the seventh to tie it, 4-4, but St. Louis’ Placido Polanco hit a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth, and Albert Pujois, who hit his 25th home run, followed with a two-run double.

New York 4, Philadelphia 3--Turk Wendell, pitching for the Phillies one day after being traded by the Mets, gave up a game-winning homer to Robin Ventura in the ninth inning at New York.

Ventura led off the ninth and hit a 1-0 pitch over the right-field fence for his 18th home run. Philadelphia dropped two games behind first-place Atlanta in the National League East.

Atlanta 10, Montreal 5--Ken Caminiti homered twice and had four RBIs, and Tom Glavine won his fourth consecutive decision for Atlanta at Montreal.

Caminiti led off the sixth with a home run to break a 3-3 tie, then he chased starter Javier Vazquez (9-10) with a three-run shot in the seventh--giving him four homers in three games and five since joining the Braves on July 5--to cap a four-run inning.

Chipper Jones had four RBIs and three of Atlanta’s 13 hits.

San Diego 6, Milwaukee 2--Phil Nevin homered twice, including a grand slam, and Woody Williams gave up five hits in 7 2/3 innings for the Padres at Milwaukee.

Nevin has 29 home runs. Bubba Trammell also homered for San Diego. Trevor Hoffman got the final four outs for his 24th save in 26 opportunities.

Cincinnati 5, Florida 0--Ken Griffey Jr. homered in his first at-bat, Dmitri Young hit a grand slam and Elmer Dessens (7-8) pitched a six-hitter at Cincinnati for his first career shutout.