Person’s Two-Hitter a Winner for Phillies

Robert Person came to a hitter’s ballpark and gave his best performance.

Person pitched a two-hitter Monday night, the low-hit game of his career, in leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-0 victory over the Houston Astros at Houston.

“Yeah, this was my best game,” Person said. “I had one other shutout, but you really have to keep the ball down and hit your spots. They have a dangerous lineup.”

Person (3-3), who lost three of his previous four starts, got the second complete game of his career in stopping the Astros’ four-game winning streak. His other complete game was a four-hit shutout of the Milwaukee Brewers last May 10.

Houston’s only hits were a first-inning double by Craig Biggio and a seventh-inning single by Brad Ausmus. Person struck out a season-high eight and walked four.

“That was an unbelievably pitched game,” Philadelphia Manager Larry Bowa said. “The way he was pitching, I told him we needed to give the bullpen a rest. For him to do what he did was something special.”

Before the game, the Phillies learned that third-base coach John Vukovich was scheduled to have surgery this morning to remove a mass from his head.

“That was definitely for Vukovich,” Person said. “Vuke is such a key part of our team. Not having him here is so unusual.”

Vukovich, 53, has been bothered by constant headaches since spring training. He had an MRI at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia on Sunday and was admitted after test results were examined Monday.

“It was a special game for our players. They had their minds elsewhere tonight,” Bowa said. “He’s going to be operated on tomorrow and I’m proud of what the guys did.”

Scott Rolen and Mike Lieberthal hit consecutive homers in the fifth against Kent Bottenfield (1-2), who was making his first start since he was sent to the bullpen April 13.

San Francisco 6, Montreal 2--Armando Rios homered and drove in four runs at San Francisco to help the Giants hand the Expos their fifth consecutive loss.

Russ Ortiz (5-1) won his third consecutive decision, giving up one run and five hits in seven innings with six strikeouts. He is 3-0 with a 2.00 earned-run average at home this season.

New York 10, Colorado 9--Tsuyoshi Shinjo drove in four runs, helping young right-hander Dicky Gonzalez to a victory at Denver.

Shinjo, only the second Japanese position player to sign a contract with a major league team, highlighted a seven-run third inning with a three-run double as the Mets took a 9-0 lead. He also had a run-scoring single in the second.

Chicago 7, Milwaukee 6--Tom Gordon got his first save in two years at Milwaukee as the Cubs won their fourth in a row.

The Cubs wasted a 5-1 lead and fell behind, 6-5, before Rondell White’s two-run single in the eighth against David Weathers (1-1).

Gordon, Chicago’s fifth pitcher, got three outs for his first save since May 31, 1999, for the Boston Red Sox against the Detroit Tigers.

St. Louis 7, Pittsburgh 0--Matt Morris pitched a four-hitter at St. Louis for his first complete game since 1998.

Rookie Albert Pujols and J.D. Drew each hit his 10th home run and Ray Lankford hit his seventh for the Cardinals. Pujols, who also had a run-scoring groundout, leads the National League with 19 two-strike hits and ranks among the league leaders with 34 runs batted in.

Cincinnati 5, Arizona 4--Sean Casey tied the score with a two-run homer in the seventh inning and hit a go-ahead double in the 10th to lift the Reds at Phoenix.

Luis Gonzalez hit his major league-leading 16th home run for the Diamondbacks.