Two Home Runs Leave Reds’ Griffey Two Short of 500

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 497th and 498th homers on consecutive pitches, and the Cincinnati Reds rallied for three runs in the ninth inning to beat the Montreal Expos, 6-5, on Sunday in Cincinnati.

Pinch-hitter Jacob Cruz hit a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth that tied the score against Rocky Biddle (0-4), and the Reds won the game on singles by pinch-hitter Barry Larkin, Ryan Freel and D’Angelo Jimenez.

After Montreal took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, Jimenez singled and Griffey hit a 3-2 pitch from Livan Hernandez to the opposite field for his 16th homer of the season. He pulled the next pitch he saw from Hernandez 409 feet to right field to tie the game in the third.

Griffey, who had his 50th multi-homer game, tied teammate Adam Dunn and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols for the major league lead with 17. He has 100 since joining the Reds before the 2000 season.

San Francisco 16, Colorado 4 -- Barry Bonds homered and Dustin Hermanson (2-2) won for the first time in seven starts, singled twice and drove in a run at Coors Field. Michael Tucker and Damon Minor each had three RBIs for the Giants, who set a season high for runs.

Bonds’ solo shot over the left-field wall in the sixth inning gave him career homer No. 674 and his 16th this season. He is third on the career list behind Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714).

Hermanson retired nine of the first 11 batters before yielding Todd Helton’s homer leading off the fourth. He hadn’t won since beating Milwaukee, 5-3, on April 13.

San Diego 8, Milwaukee 3 -- Adam Eaton ended his six-game losing streak and Phil Nevin hit a three-run homer at San Diego, helping the Padres move to within two percentage points of the first-place Dodgers in the West Division.

After giving up two runs in the first, Eaton (2-6) retired 15 of 16 batters. He gave up three hits in six innings, striking out five and walking one.

New York 5, Florida 2 -- Mike Piazza hit his third home run in two days and drove in four runs at Shea Stadium.

Piazza hit a two-run double in the first inning and his 13th homer of the season in the fifth. His 371st homer put him in 56th place on the career list, one in front of Gil Hodges and four back of Rocky Colavito.

Atlanta 6, Philadelphia 4 -- Kevin Millwood remained winless against his former team, yielding a go-ahead, three-run homer to J.D. Drew in a six-run fifth inning at Atlanta.

Millwood (4-4) blew a four-run lead and dropped to 0-6 with a 9.10 earned-run average in six starts against the Braves, who traded him to Philadelphia for catcher Johnny Estrada on Dec. 20, 2002. He gave up six runs, eight hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings.

Atlanta (28-28) stopped a two-game skid and avoided falling two games under .500 this late in the season since finishing the 1990 season with 97 losses.

Chicago 4, Pittsburgh 1 -- Greg Maddux gave the Cubs their third consecutive strong start, yielding only four hits over seven innings at Wrigley Field. Maddux (5-4), following Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano in the rotation, struck out six and walked none. He gave up the run in the third, when Tike Redman blooped a single, Ryan Vogelsong sacrificed and Jason Kendall singled.

Houston 3, St. Louis 2 -- Roy Oswalt worked six solid innings and Raul Chavez hit an RBI double that broke a sixth-inning tie, helping the Astros avoid a three-game sweep at St. Louis. Oswalt (4-4) gave up two runs and six hits, struck out six and did not walk a batter.

The Cardinals finished the game without Pujols, who strained his left hamstring running the bases in the sixth. Pujols, who has 17 homers, 40 RBIs and a .325 average, has started all 56 games and has never been on the disabled list.