Bennett Wins Game for Cardinals Again

For most of his career, Gary Bennett has been a low-profile backup catcher. Not this weekend. Bennett won a game for St. Louis with two out in the ninth for the second straight day, hitting a grand slam Sunday night to give the Cardinals a 10-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

“It’s 4 years old on Christmas morning, that’s the feeling,” Bennett said. “You’re rounding third and you see everybody jumping up and down. Other than the World Series.... I guess that would feel better.”

Bennett hit the game-winning single in a 2-1 victory Saturday and topped that with the first grand slam of his career, against Bob Howry (3-5). It’s his second game-winning homer and the Cardinals’ first game-winning slam since David Eckstein beat the Braves on Aug. 7, 2005.

“I’ve been in a lot of pennant races and you always have some unlikely heroes,” Cubs Manager Dusty Baker said. “Gary Bennett was the hero of this series.”

It was the fourth homer of the year for Bennett. All have come since Aug. 18.

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ROUNDUP

at San Francisco 8, Cincinnati 0: Matt Cain pitched seven sharp innings, and the resurgent Giants won for the 11th time in 14 games. Omar Vizquel, Ray Durham and Shea Hillenbrand each drove in two runs for the Giants. The Reds have lost four of five since climbing to within percentage points of NL Central-leading St. Louis.

at Colorado 6, San Diego 3: Cory Sullivan drove in a career-high three runs with three hits, and Aaron Cook improved to 7-3 against the Padres. Matt Holliday hit his 24th homer and drove in two runs for the Rockies.

Houston 13, at Pittsburgh 1: Willy Taveras extended his hitting streak to 30 games, and Lance Berkman drove in four runs as the Astros won their third in a row. Berkman, in a five-for-45 slump at one point of the series, hit a three-run homer and had a run-scoring single in the first after Taveras singled to start the game.

at Atlanta 13, Washington 6: Jeff Francoeur, Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones hit home runs, and Adam LaRoche capped a six-run third inning with a three-run double for the Braves. Despite their poor season, the Braves rank third in the league in runs and second in homers.

at Florida 4, Milwaukee 3: Pinch-hitter Mike Jacobs doubled home Jeremy Hermida with two out, and the Marlins won their seventh in a row.

Philadelphia at New York: The game was postponed by rain and will be made up today.