Ward Hits for Cycle in Pirate Victory

Daryle Ward hit for the cycle and tied his career best with six runs batted in to lead the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates to an 11-8 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.

Jack Wilson was four for six, drove in a run and scored three times to raise his average to .363 for the Pirates, who have won six of their last seven on the road.

Ward, who played for the Dodgers last season and was recalled from triple-A Nashville on May 11, hit a two-run double in the first and a run-scoring triple in the fourth off Jason Marquis, golfed a three-run homer off Kiko Calero in the fifth and singled off Steve Kline in the ninth.

He’s the first Pirate player to hit for the cycle since Jason Kendall on May 19, 2000, against the Cardinals. It has been done 23 times in franchise history by 20 players.

Ward is batting .380 with six homers and 16 RBIs in 50 at-bats.

The Pirates were eight for 18 with runners in scoring position, ending an 0-for-27 slump in their previous four games. Pittsburgh also improved to 14-8 on the road.

Kris Benson (4-3) tired in the seventh, finishing with 119 pitches, but benefited from the support to win for the first time in four starts since April 30. He gave up seven runs and 11 hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Jim Edmonds hit his 11th homer, and Marquis (3-4) got his second hit and second RBI for the Cardinals, who have lost three in a row. St. Louis is 10-14 at home.

Edmonds is nine for 19 against Benson with two homers and two doubles.

The Cardinals trailed, 10-2, in the fifth before making it close with a run in the sixth and four in the seventh that cut the gap to 10-7.

San Francisco 4, Arizona 3 -- Barry Bonds hit his second homer in two days, Pedro Feliz hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the eighth and the Giants rallied to beat the Diamondbacks at San Francisco.

Bonds hit a 2-and-2 pitch from Casey Daigle to dead center for his 12th home run and career No. 670 leading off the fourth to give San Francisco a 2-1 lead.

The Diamondbacks fell to 12 games under .500 -- their worst record since the club’s inaugural season in 1998.

Philadelphia 7, New York 4 -- First baseman Mike Piazza’s throwing error set up Jim Thome’s tiebreaking double for the Phillies in a six-run seventh inning at New York.

Philadelphia ended New York’s four-game winning streak and remained in a virtual tie with Florida atop the NL East.

Matt Ginter pitched six shutout innings for the Mets, extending their scoreless streak to 28, their longest since going 31 innings without giving up a run in September 1990.

Florida 3, Cincinnati 0 -- Tommy Phelps limited the Reds to one double over seven innings at Cincinnati to lead the Marlins to a victory that ended the Reds’ seven-game winning streak.

The Reds were held to one hit for the first time since Sept. 26, 2001, when Philadelphia’s Randy Wolf beat them, 8-0.

Phelps (1-0), making his first start of the season, gave up two walks and Sean Casey’s fourth-inning double.

Colorado 13, San Diego 6 -- Vinny Castilla homered twice and drove in four runs at Denver, and the Rockies ended a six-game losing streak.

Castilla hit homers in the first and eighth innings, increasing his season total to 14, tied with Arizona’s Steve Finley for the major league lead.

Phil Nevin had three RBIs for the Padres, who have lost four of six.

Atlanta 6, Montreal 1 -- Russ Ortiz threw a five-hitter for his first complete game of the season and eighth of his career, to lead the Braves at Montreal.

Ortiz (5-4) gave up one run in winning his second consecutive start. He retired his last 17 batters, and 22 of 23, to improve to 5-2 in his last eight outings.