Kent’s Homer Lifts Astros Over Cardinals

Jeff Kent hit a two-run homer off Matt Morris with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night, giving the Houston Astros a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Kent’s second homer of the season ruined a splendid pitching performance by Morris (0-1), who retired 17 of 18 batters before Lance Berkman’s two-out infield single in the ninth.

Kent then sent a 3-1 pitch over the left-center field fence to give Houston a thrilling win in the opener of a three-game series between teams that have combined for the last seven NL Central titles.

Octavio Dotel (1-1) worked a scoreless ninth.

Jeff Bagwell’s solo homer in the third inning was one of six hits given up by Morris. He struck out five and walked one.

Milwaukee 11, Arizona 7 -- Randy Johnson gave up 10 runs in 4 2/3 innings at Phoenix in one of the worst starts of his career as the Brewers beat the reeling Diamondbacks.

Geoff Jenkins went a career-best five for five with three RBIs and three runs scored for the Brewers, who have won three of four.

The 10 earned runs tied a career-worst for Johnson. He gave up 11 runs, 10 of them earned, for Seattle in 2 1/3 innings of a 12-6 loss at Toronto on April 10, 1994.

Arizona fell to 2-8, the worst record in the National League.

San Diego 6, Colorado 4 -- Brian Lawrence pitched six strong innings at San Diego and hit his first career home run, leading the Padres over the Rockies.

Gary Bennett went three for three with two doubles and three RBIs for the Padres. Lawrence (2-0) gave up two runs and five hits and struck out eight in his second consecutive solid outing.

Cincinnati 7, Philadelphia 6 -- Austin Kearns’ two-run homer off Jose Mesa with one out in the ninth inning gave the Reds their first dramatic win in their new ballpark.

Placido Polanco’s leadoff homer in the ninth off Gabe White gave Philadelphia its first lead and brought on Jose Mesa (1-1), who had not given up a run in 10 career appearances against the Reds.

Pittsburgh 3, Chicago 2 -- Aramis Ramirez went two for three with an RBI single and Jeff D’Amico got his first win of the season for the Pirates at Chicago.

Florida 7, Atlanta 4 -- Derrek Lee hit his 100th career home run, pitcher Brad Penny connected for his first and the Marlins won at Miami.