Edmonds Still Able to Help Cardinals

Jim Edmonds overcame a sore right ribcage and drove in four runs and threw out a runner at the plate, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 10-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night at St. Louis.

Edmonds almost didn’t start after straining his ribcage muscle during batting practice the previous night, but chose to play, helping the Cardinals win their sixth in a row.

Albert Pujols went four for five, and the Cardinals had a season-high 19 hits to move nine games over .500 and remain a game behind Central Division-leading Cincinnati.

St. Louis Manager Tony La Russa served the second game of a two-game suspension for his confrontation with Pirate Manager Lloyd McClendon on Thursday.

La Russa got credit for his 2,041st win, moving him ahead of former Dodger manager Walter Alston for sixth place on the career list.

Cincinnati 6, Montreal 3 -- Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 496th homer and Adam Dunn had two of his own, including a three-run shot in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Griffey homered in the fourth and Dunn followed with a solo shot, putting right-hander Paul Wilson in position to improve to 8-0. But closer Danny Graves let the Expos tie it in the ninth with consecutive homers.

Dunn tossed his bat away triumphantly after connecting for his 17th homer off Chad Cordero (1-1) with two out in the 10th. Sean Casey started the winning rally with a two-out double off the right-field wall. Griffey was intentionally walked to bring up Dunn. In his last 44 at-bats, Dunn has seven hits -- six homers.

Chicago 6, Pittsburgh 1 -- Carlos Zambrano (6-2) pitched eight solid innings and Rey Ordonez hit a two-run single in the seventh to lead the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Derrek Lee hit a two-run homer in the eighth for the Cubs, who ended a three-game losing streak. Zambrano (6-2) yielded one run and four hits, struck out seven and walked two.

Florida 7, New York 6 -- Mike Piazza had two homers for the Mets, including a leadoff shot against ex-teammate Armando Benitez in the bottom of the ninth inning. But Benitez retired the next three hitters for his 22nd save.

Piazza’s homers gave him 370, moving him past Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner and tying him for 56th on the all-time list with Gil Hodges.

Philadelphia 5, Atlanta 3 -- Brett Myers (4-3) overcame a rough first inning to win for the first time in three starts, leading the Phillies at Atlanta. After giving up two runs and three hits in the first, he yielded only three more hits in his seven innings.

The Braves, who lost two in a row for the first time in 17 games, fell to 27-28, their worst record this late in the season since having an identical record on June 6, 1992.

Colorado 11, San Francisco 2 -- The Rockies kept Barry Bonds from hurting them this time -- by giving the slugger only two hittable pitches at Coors Field.

Bonds walked three times, twice intentionally, but doubled off the wall in right-center in the seventh against Tim Harikkala. He still finished one for one to raise his average at Coors Field to .328.

On Friday, Bonds hit his 15th homer and No. 673 of his career when Jeff Fassero pitched to him after Manager Clint Hurdle instructed him not to do so. Hurdle said before Saturday’s game Fassero’s ego probably got involved in the decision.

San Diego 4, Milwaukee 0 -- Ismael Valdez threw a four-hitter for his sixth career shutout and drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk, leading the Padres at San Diego.

Valdez (5-2) retired 12 in a row during one stretch, and 16 of the last 17 he faced for his 13th career complete game.

After a streak of five consecutive starts in May without a victory, the former Dodger has two consecutive wins against the Brewers. He beat them, 5-2, on May 30.

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The Phillies will put Randy Wolf on the 15-day disabled list because of tendinitis in his left elbow if closer Billy Wagner has a good rehabilitation outing today with double-A Reading. Wolf had a bullpen session before the Phillies beat the Braves but felt tight and couldn’t adequately extend after releasing the ball.