Rockies Can’t Handle Overpowering Padre

When Bruce Bochy looks out on the mound at Oliver Perez, he sees a young Fernando Valenzuela.

The 20-year-old rookie left-hander gave up one hit in 6 2/3 innings and struck out a career-high 13 and Ryan Klesko hit two home runs Sunday as the San Diego Padres ended a six-game losing streak with a 7-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Denver.

“He reminds you of Fernando with completely different stuff,” Bochy, the Padre manager, said. “He loves to compete and he loves to play baseball.”

Perez (3-1) struck out the side in the second, fifth and sixth innings in winning for the first time in three starts. He fell two strikeouts short of the franchise single-game record of 15, set by Sterling Hitchcock on Aug. 29, 1998, against Montreal, and by Fred Norman on Sept. 17, 1972. He walked five and yielded only Larry Walker’s two-out double in the third inning.

“That is nice being compared to Fernando,” said Perez, who was pitching at double-A Mobile of the Southern League until a month ago. “I thought I should have been up sooner, but I waited for my chance.

“My only disappointment was the walks and my high pitch count. I want to tighten that up and go deeper into games.”

Ross Gload singled off Trevor Hoffman in the ninth for the Rockies’ only other hit.

Klesko hit his 16th and 17th home runs and drove four runs. Ramon Vazquez had four hits for the Padres, who avoided matching their longest losing streak of the season.

Shawn Chacon (3-6) struggled through 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs and nine hits in failing to win for his sixth consecutive start.

Atlanta 2, Chicago 0--Greg Maddux had perhaps his best start of the season, John Smoltz picked up his 17th consecutive save and the Braves kept the best record in the major leagues. What better way to head to the All-Star break?

Maddux pitched seven scoreless innings and gave up only three hits at Atlanta.

Pitching on only three days rest, Maddux (8-2) got 11 ground outs and threw only 82 pitches before turning the game over to Chris Hammond, who pitched a scoreless eighth. Smoltz pitched a perfect ninth for his 31st save in 34 chances.

The Braves (56-32) won for the 15th time in 18 games and won their 13th consecutive series.

Houston 6, Pittsburgh 1--Jose Vizcaino’s two-run double keyed the second five-run inning against Jimmy Anderson in as many starts and Wade Miller held the Pirates to one run over six innings at Pittsburgh.

Miller struck out nine as he and three relievers combined for 14 strikeouts. Roy Oswalt, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner pitched an inning each.

The Astros outscored the Pirates, 27-13, in winning three of four in a series that helped them stay 6 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the NL Central. They went 7-2 on their trip and have won nine of 12.

The Astros didn’t get an RBI from Lance Berkman for the first time in 11 games, but the major league leader in RBIs with 81 scored twice after walking. Berkman’s 10-game RBI streak was a club record, one more than Bob Watson’s nine-game streak in 1978.

Milwaukee 7, Cincinnati 4--Paul Bako and Jeffrey Hammonds homered to lead the Brewers at Cincinnati.

Milwaukee starter Ruben Quevedo left one out short of qualifying for the victory. Valerio De Los Santos (2-2) got the last out of the fifth when Sean Casey flied to left with the bases loaded. Quevedo walked four and struck out three in 4 2/3 innings.

De Los Santos got a painful assist on a double play in the next inning. A line drive by Todd Walker caromed off his back to second baseman Young, who threw to first to double off Russell Branyan.

Philadelphia 10, Montreal 8--Scott Rolen hit a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Phillies avoided a four-game sweep.

Rolen hit a 1-0 pitch from Matt Herges (2-3) for his 13th homer. Rheal Cormier (4-4) pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory and Jose Mesa pitched the ninth for his 23rd save in 28 chances.

New York 9, Florida 3--Jay Payton hit a three-run home run and drove in a career-high five runs at Miami in a game that was stopped four times because of rain.

The game was halted a total of 3 hours 3 minutes--38 minutes in the first inning, 17 minutes in the third, 1 hour 44 minutes in the fourth and 24 minutes in the sixth.