Mets’ Pitching Battered For 4th Game In A Row

Major League roundup

Kurt Abbott hit a pair of two-run doubles to help Livan Hernandez win his first road start Thursday night as the Florida Marlins pounded Armando Reynoso and the New York Mets 10-4.

The Marlins scored four runs in the first and second innings off Reynoso (6-2), who pitched a shutout against Florida last month.

Jeff Conine hit a two-run homer - the 15th homer in four games off Mets pitchers - and went 3 for 4 for the Marlins, 5-1 in their last six road games.

Shawn Gilbert hit his first major league homer and Carl Everett went 2 for 4 with a triple for New York, which dropped its fourth straight. The Mets had just returned home from a disastrous interleague trip to Detroit, where they were swept by the Tigers and outhomered 14-0. New York has been outscored 41-17 in the four losses.

Pirates 6, Cardinals 4 St. Louis

Kevin Young hit a two-run homer and Esteban Loaiza pitched six strong innings in Pittsburgh’s victory.

The Pirates scored three runs against Fernando Valenzuela (2-11) in the first five innings as he became the major league’s first 11-game loser. Since arriving from San Diego, Valenzuela has four starts without a win.

Cubs 5, Phillies 4 Philadelphia

Not even All-Star pitcher Curt Schilling could stop Philadelphia from losing its 10th consecutive game.

Sammy Sosa had two RBIs and rookie Jeremi Gonzalez won his third straight start for Chicago.

The Phillies lost for the 18th time in their last 19 games. It’s the Phillies’ longest losing streak since they dropped 11 straight in 1989, and the 31st time since 1900 they’ve lost at least 10 in a row.

Braves 15, Expos 2 Montreal

Andruw Jones and Javy Lopez homered on consecutive pitches during a nine-run fourth inning.

Jones drove in four runs as Atlanta won for the eighth time in nine games. John Smoltz (8-7) won his second straight start after going 0-3 in his previous four.

Reds 4, Astros 3 Houston

Joe Oliver drove in three runs with a homer and two-run single and John Smiley beat Houston for the ninth straight time.

Smiley, who hasn’t lost to the Astros since May 8, 1993, kept Houston scoreless until the seventh inning when Luis Gonzalez and Derek Bell singled and Sean Berry homered to make it a one-run game.

Interleague

Dodgers 8, Angels 2 Anaheim, Calif.

Hideo Nomo overcame an early stretch of wildness to pitch six shutout innings, and Roger Cedeno, Greg Gagne and Mike Piazza each drove in two runs.

The win gave the Dodgers a sweep of their four-game season series with the Angels.

Nomo (8-7) pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the first and issued four walks and hit a batter in the opening three innings, when he threw 66 of his 106 pitches.

Rangers 8, Rockies 3 Arlington, Texas

Will Clark hit his first homer since May 30 and Darren Oliver pitched into the ninth inning to lead Texas past Colorado. It was Clark’s first homer in 29 games.

Giants 6, Athletics 4 San Francisco

J.T. Snow homered twice and Barry Bonds hit his 20th homer, an upper-deck shot that left him blowing kisses to San Francisco’s first sellout crowd since 1994.

American League

Twins 8, Brewers 5 Milwaukee

Scott Stahoviak hit a 455-foot homer off Jeff D’Amico, and Brad Radke (10-5) stretched his career-best winning streak to six games for Minnesota.

Orioles 10, Tigers 1 Detroit

Jimmy Key, showing no ill effects from a weekend hamstring injury, pitched eight effective innings as Baltimore won its fourth straight.

The Orioles have won a franchise-record 10 consecutive games against Detroit, including seven in a row at Tiger Stadium.

Red Sox 4, White Sox 1 Chicago

Nomar Garciaparra, Boston’s only All-Star representative, led off the game with a homer and later scored the tiebreaking run to spark Boston.

Aaron Sele (10-6) gave up seven hits in his first complete game since last Sept. 22. Garciaparra homered on the fourth pitch of the game from Doug Drabek (6-6).

Yankees 3, Blue Jays 1 Toronto

David Wells allowed five hits over 7-1/3 innings. Wells (9-4), who gave up five runs over three innings in his last start, gave up one run, struck out six and walked three as New York improved to 13-3 at SkyDome since 1995.

Mariano Rivera struck out the side in the ninth for his league-leading 27th save.

All-Stars won’t be spitting

Under pressure from U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., the baseball players’ association agreed for the first time to a voluntary ban on chewing tobacco in the All-Star game.

Union head Donald Fehr said in a memo to players, “We ask that all players, managers and coaches refrain from using spit tobacco while on the field or in the dugout, during the course of interviews, or otherwise where that use could be seen by kids who will be watching the game.”

Clearing the bases

Colorado reliever Bruce Ruffin will undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur from his left elbow and was expected to be out from six to eight weeks. … Marlins pitcher Dennis Cook’s suspension for throwing at Andres Galarraga was cut from three games to two. … While confirming for the first time that they had suspended Wilfredo Cordero, the Red Sox agreed to allow him to play following the All-Star break if baseball’s counselors give their approval. … Mets’ Edgardo Alfonzo has hit safely in 16 straight games. … Nomar Garciaparra tied Rico Petrocelli’s 1965 Red Sox record of 13 home runs by a rookie shortstop.