Padres Surprise Schmidt, Giants

The San Diego Padres beat baseball’s hottest pitcher, Jason Schmidt, in a 5-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night at San Diego.

The last-place Padres scored four runs and had seven hits against Schmidt, and beat the National League West Division-leading Giants for lonely the second time in eight games this season.

Schmidt (8-4), the likely NL starter for the All-Star game, had given up only one earned run in throwing three consecutive complete games, and his 2.14 earned-run average was the best in the majors.

Kevin Jarvis (1-2) pitched into the eighth for his first win in more than a year. Jarvis, who went 7 1/3 innings, held the Giants to two runs and three hits in his fifth start of the season. He spent more than two months on the disabled list while recovering from elbow surgery in July 2002.

Rod Beck, the former Giant closer, pitched the ninth for his seventh save in as many chances. With two on and one out, he struck out Barry Bonds and retired Jose Cruz Jr. on a groundout.

Atlanta 3, Montreal 2 -- Closer Rocky Biddle hit Javy Lopez with a pitch to force in the tying run and walked Rafael Furcal with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, handing the Braves a victory at Atlanta.

Furcal fell behind in the count 0-and-2 to Biddle (3-3), then worked it back to 3-and-2. After fouling off a pitch, Furcal took one high and outside, allowing Robert Fick to score the winning run.

Jung Keun Bong (6-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the Braves, who extended their lead in the East Division to 6 1/2 games over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Expos are eight games back.

Pittsburgh 4, Houston 3 -- Jeff Suppan (7-7) overcame a shaky start to pitch seven effective innings in his second consecutive strong outing and also hit a run-scoring double at Pittsburgh.

The Pirates overcame the Astros’ two-run first inning by scoring three runs with four straight hits to start their half of the first against Kirk Saarloos (2-1), and Suppan took over from there.

After losing seven of eight against Houston earlier this season, the Pirates have won two straight in the three-game weekend series. The Astros have lost eight of 11 to fall one game back of division leader St. Louis in the Central Division.

Chicago 6, St. Louis 5 -- Alex Gonzalez’s infield single with the bases loaded in the ninth inning lifted the host Cubs.

With one out, Gonzalez hit a slow grounder past diving third baseman Scott Rolen. Shortstop Edgar Renteria failed to field the ball cleanly and didn’t attempt a throw as Corey Patterson scored.

It was the first time since May 25, 2000, that the Cubs rallied from a 5-0 deficit to win. For Gonzalez, it was the ninth time he’s won a game for the Cubs in his last at-bat.

Sammy Sosa homered for the Cubs and moved into a tie for 14th on the career list. He’s tied with Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews with 512.

Florida 5, Philadelphia 4 -- The win at Philadelphia enabled the Marlins to move within four games of the Phillies in the race for the NL wild-card spot.

Brad Penny (7-6) gave up two runs -- one earned -- and five hits in seven innings.

New York 6, Cincinnati 2 -- Jeromy Burnitz’s run-scoring double ended Danny Graves’ no-hit bid in the seventh inning and started a four-run rally that gave the Mets the win at Cincinnati.

Graves (4-8), the former Red closer, allowed only one runner through six innings, hitting Burnitz in the back as he tried to come up-and-in on a two-strike pitch in the first inning.

Colorado 9, Milwaukee 8 -- Todd Helton drove in four runs with a triple and a home run to help the Rockies win at Milwaukee.

The Rockies also got six solid innings from Darren Oliver (6-5), who gave up three runs and five hits for his second straight win on the road after beginning 0-5 in his first eight starts away from Coors Field.

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Arizona Diamondback ace Randy Johnson threw four perfect innings for triple-A Tucson at Fresno in his first rehabilitation start since undergoing knee surgery two months ago.

Johnson, a five-time Cy Young Award winner, retired all 12 batters he faced against the Fresno Grizzlies, striking out four.