McGriff Is a Huge Hit With Cubs

Fred McGriff had played at Wrigley Field before, but never in a Cub uniform, so he pondered what might happen as he made his way to a new team.

“On the plane this morning I tried to play everything out and I said, ‘Fred, be aggressive,”’ McGriff said Sunday night after helping the Central-leading Cubs defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5.

“On that first day, you don’t know what will happen. You just hope the Cubs win.”

McGriff went one hit in three at-bats and Roberto Machado hit a two-run homer as Chicago increased its lead in the NL Central to 4 1/2 games over Houston and 8 1/2 over the third-place Cardinals.

McGriff, who finally agreed to join the Cubs on Friday after waiving his no-trade clause with Tampa Bay, had a walk, a run-scoring single, a strikeout and a line-drive out to center.

He was greeted with a rousing standing ovation as he entered the batter’s box in the second inning and waved his helmet to acknowledge the greeting before working a walk off Matt Morris (12-7) to start a four-run inning.

“It turned out to be huge for us because it got us on the board,” McGriff said. “The fans were awesome.”

After the walk, Ron Coomer followed with a double to left center, and Matt Stairs, who started in left after losing his first base job to McGriff, hit a run-scoring single to right. When Albert Pujols overran the ball, Coomer scored on the error.

Machado, who gave up his No. 29 jersey to McGriff and donned No. 72 instead, then drove a long two-run homer to left to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead.

Michael Tucker walked leading off the third, Sammy Sosa singled and McGriff got his first hit as a Cub--the single to right. Sosa scored on Coomer’s fielder’s choice grounder to make it 6-0.

“Having played here in the past and having played with some of the players here made it a lot smoother,” McGriff said.

San Francisco 4, Arizona 3--Rich Aurilia told starter Shawn Estes that if he could keep the Diamondbacks in striking distance, the Giants would find a way to win.

Estes (8-5) did his part, scattering four hits over eight innings at Phoenix, and Aurilia and Marvin Benard combined to hold up the hitters’ end of the bargain.

Aurilia led off the eighth with his 21st homer to tie it, 2-2, and Benard had a two-run pinch-hit homer in the ninth off Byung-Hyun Kim (3-3) as the Giants completed a sweep of the four-game series.

“I told Shawn the whole game that if he just kept it close we’d get him a few runs,” said Aurilia, whose homer off Randy Johnson was his fifth in four games. “I had two strikes, so I was just trying to choke up a bit and trying to get the ball in play. The last thing on my mind was to go out of the yard.”

San Diego 12, Milwaukee 5--Ryan Klesko and Bubba Trammell homered and Alex Arias hit a bases-loaded double at Miller Park as the Padres won another series from the Brewers.

The Padres, who won two of three and five the six meetings this season, have never lost a series to the Brewers. San Diego is 9-0-1 in series since Milwaukee joined the National League in 1998, going 23-9 overall.

The Padres scored their 12th run in the seventh on a pinch-hit double by Tony Gwynn and a single by Rickey Henderson, who then angered Manager Davey Lopes and the Brewers by running to second with a seven-run lead on a pitch by Ray King.

Because the Padre lead was so big, the Brewers did not expect Henderson to take the base. An infuriated Lopes came out of the dugout to tell Henderson during a heated exchange that his next at-bat would be an adventurous one.

“I didn’t appreciate what he did,” Lopes said. “I know he’s trying to obtain the record for the most runs scored, but do it the right way. I just told him to stay in the game, because he was going [down]. We were going to drill him.”

Henderson, who trails Ty Cobb’s mark of 2,246 runs by 22, was not given a stolen base on the attempt as the official scorer ruled defensive indifference.

Atlanta 8, Montreal 1--John Burkett matched his career high with 11 strikeouts and helped himself with a run-scoring single at Olympic Stadium. Burkett (8-8), who retired the first 13 batters, gave up one run and four hits in 7 1/3 innings. The Braves moved three games ahead of second-place Philadelphia in the East.

New York 6, Philadelphia 5--Mike Piazza homered with one out in the ninth inning at Shea Stadium to give the Mets their third victory in a row against the Phillies. Piazza’s 26th home run of the season came off Rheal Cormier (5-4) and made a winner of Armando Benitez (5-3), who blew his first save in 25 chances this season in the top of the inning.

Pittsburgh 4, Houston 1--Todd Ritchie gave up one unearned run in eight-plus innings to win for the seventh time in nine decisions since starting the season 0-8. He is now 5-0 in his last six starts at home. Ritchie (7-10) yielded six hits, leaving after Jeff Bagwell’s leadoff single in the ninth. Mike Williams finished for his 22nd save in 24 chances.

Cincinnati 8, Florida 4--Todd Walker’s two-run double off the glove of left fielder Kevin Millar keyed a five-run rally in the sixth inning, helping the Reds complete their first series sweep at home this season. The Marlins have lost 12 of their last 16 road games.