Piazza Greets Rookie With Hr
Mike Piazza homered twice and drove in six runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers continued jumping out to early leads, beating host Pittsburgh 9-5 Wednesday for their 11th victory in 15 games.
Piazza had a run-scoring single in a three-run first inning, then hit the first pitch thrown in the majors by rookie Jason Johnson for a three-run homer - his 30th - in the second. He added his 31st in the ninth, a two-run shot off Matt Ruebel. Piazza became the first Dodger to hit 30 homers in three straight seasons since Duke Snider (1953-57).
Mets 15, Giants 6 New York
Jason Isringhausen got his first win in nearly a year as New York rallied for its major-league-best 39th come-from-behind victory. Isringhausen walked six and allowed 17 of 29 batters to reach base.
Phillies 7, Padres 6 (12) Philadelphia
Philadelphia’s Curt Schilling became the first pitcher since Dwight Gooden with the Mets in 1984 to reach double digits in strikeouts 15 times in one season.
After wasting a 6-3 lead in the ninth, the Phillies won it on Kevin Stocker’s 12th-inning single for their first four-game sweep in two seasons. San Diego has lost nine of 11.
Schilling struck out 10, raising his strikeout total to 264, tying Seattle’s Randy Johnson for the major-league lead.
Ken Caminiti homered into the right-field upper deck in the sixth, becoming only the 12th player to hit a ball into that level since the ballpark opened in 1971. He reached 20 homers for the third consecutive season.
Astros 6, Braves 4 (13) Atlanta
Jeff Bagwell hit a two-out, two-run homer in the 13th inning for Houston.
Bagwell’s 35th homer came off Paul Byrd (3-3) after Craig Biggio was hit by a pitch. The Astros tied it with two runs in the ninth against Braves relief ace Mark Wohlers, who squandered Greg Maddux’s chance to become the N.L.’s first 18-game winner.
Marlins 4, Cubs 3 Chicago
Darren Daulton hit a two-run single with two outs in a three-run ninth inning to lead Florida.
The Marlins came from behind for the 37th time this season, winning for the 20th time in their final at-bat, getting help from back-to-back errors by shortstop Manny Alexander.
Rockies 7, Reds 5 Denver
Vinny Castilla hit his third home run in two games, extending his hitting streak to 17 games, and Dante Bichette had four hits to lead Colorado.
Cardinals 4, Expos 3 St. Louis
David Bell hit a tying home run in the seventh inning and singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth for St. Louis.
Clearing the bases
Florida’s Moises Alou has a career-high 97 RBIs, one shy of the family record, set by his father, Felipe, in 1962 with the San Francisco Giants. … Cardinals’ Mark McGwire stole his ninth career base.