Boone’s Three Homers Lead the Streaking Reds

Aaron Boone won’t waste any time analyzing his home-run binge. He’d rather savor the results than look for the reasons.

Boone hit three solo homers Thursday at Cincinnati, leading the way once again as the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-6, and completed a four-game sweep.

The Reds hit four homers in all -- Sean Casey added a solo shot -- as they completed their first sweep at Great American Ball Park and compiled their first four-game winning streak of the season.

“We’re focused,” said Boone, who led off the second, sixth and seventh innings with homers. “We have a purpose each day. There’s no letting up. We kind of have blinders on to things that aren’t under out control. That’s the attitude that I think this team is starting to take.”

In all, the Reds hit 10 homers during the series -- half of them by Boone, who was seven for 14 with seven RBIs.

Atlanta 12-5, Colorado 6-2 -- Andruw Jones set a franchise record by driving in a run for the ninth straight game and John Smoltz got two saves for the Braves in a doubleheader sweep at Atlanta. Jones had RBI singles in both games. The previous franchise record of eight games was shared by Eddie Mathews (1954), Hank Aaron (1955, 1957), Mike Lum (1978) and Bob Horner (1979-80).

Montreal 12, San Diego 5 -- Fernando Tatis hit a two-run double that capped a six-run first inning at Montreal. Only 5,274 fans were on hand at Olympic Stadium and the three-game series drew 16,226.

San Francisco 3, Florida 2 -- Pinch-hitter Rich Aurilia singled home the tiebreaking run with two out in the ninth inning to complete a three-game sweep at Miami.

Houston 6, Pittsburgh 2 -- Geoff Blum went three for three and scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch at Houston as the Astros extended their winning streak to seven.