Walker Comes Off Bench to Defeat Johnson

Larry Walker won’t pretend that he has solved Randy Johnson.

Walker drove in two runs with a pinch-hit single off Arizona’s dominating left-hander at Denver and the Colorado Rockies ended a season-high six-game losing streak Sunday with a 7-6 victory against the Diamondbacks.

“I’ve got a couple of hits off him so I guess I own him,” Walker said. “Tell me somebody that doesn’t have a hard time against Randy Johnson.”

Walker, who was one for six against Johnson (9-5), didn’t start because of a sore left hamstring but he came off the bench to deliver the key hit in the sixth inning.

“Larry is our best hitter,” Colorado Manager Buddy Bell said. “In probably the most crucial situation of the ballgame, I wanted him up there.”

Denny Neagle (6-2), activated from the disabled list before the game, gave up four runs and eight hits and struck out seven in six innings. He had been sidelined because of a strained right hamstring.

Colorado made the score 7-5 in the eighth when Juan Pierre scored on a wild pitch, but Arizona closed within a run on Luis Gonzalez’s run-scoring single off Jose Jimenez in the ninth. Jimenez recorded the final three outs for his 12th save in 15 chances.

Reggie Sanders and Jay Bell homered for Arizona, which ended its three-game winning streak.

Johnson fanned 12, the 160th time he has struck out at least 10, and gave up six runs and four hits as his four-game winning streak ended.

The Rockies used a wild pitch and two errors on the same play to score twice in the first inning.

After a single by Neifi Perez and Terry Shumpert’s double to lead off the inning, Johnson struck out Jeff Cirillo, but threw a wild pitch to Todd Helton to score Perez.

Helton then hit a ground ball to Erubiel Durazo at first base. Shumpert was trapped between third and home when Durazo threw home, but catcher Damian Miller dropped the ball on an attempted swipe tag for an error.

The ball bounced away, Miller recovered it and threw to the plate, but Durazo--who was covering--missed it for another error as Shumpert scored.

“Errors are always part of the game,” Arizona Manager Bob Brenly said. “The ones we made really hurt.”

Johnson settled down after the first inning, at one time striking out the side in the fifth and sixth innings.

“I settled down after the first and gave us a chance to come back,” Johnson said. “We did that, then I got runners on from hits in the sixth and it just went down from there.”

Philadelphia 9, Florida 3--Bobby Abreu went three for five with three runs batted in and an inside-the-park home run as the Phillies rebounded at Miami.

After being outscored, 20-2, in the first two games of the series, the first-place Phillies won for the seventh time in 20 games to avoid the sweep.

Philadelphia’s lead in the NL East has dropped from eight games on June 1 to 2 1/2 over Atlanta. The Marlins, who had won eight of nine, are 3 1/2 games back.

Milwaukee 6, Chicago 3--Ben Sheets defeated the Cubs for the third time in as many starts, and Milwaukee hit three home runs at Chicago to complete a three-game sweep.

Sheets (9-4), who pitched the gold-medal winning game for the 2000 U.S. Olympic team, won his fifth consecutive decision. He gave up five hits and three runs, including a pair of home runs to Matt Stairs, in 5 1/3 innings.

Atlanta 8, New York 4--Brian Jordan hit a tiebreaking three-run home run in a seventh-inning rally that began with Rafael Furcal’s bunt double for the Braves at New York.

Furcal went four for five for the first four-hit game of his career, scored three runs and stole two bases.

The Braves took advantage of catcher Mike Piazza by stealing four bases in six tries, including a swipe of second by Furcal on a third-inning pitchout.

Montreal 11, Pittsburgh 4--Peter Bergeron had four hits and Mike Mordecai had two of his three hits in a seven-run sixth inning to lead the Expos at Pittsburgh.

Troy Mattes (1-0) gave up three runs--two earned--in five innings for his first major league victory.

Houston 7, Cincinnati 5--Julio Lugo had three hits and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning for the Astros at Houston.

Octavio Dotel (4-4) pitched two scoreless innings for the victory, and Billy Wagner pitched a scoreless ninth for his 14th save in 15 tries.