Olerud’s Late Heroics Lift Mets

National League

Luis Lopez hit a go-ahead RBI double, then preserved the lead by turning a double play that even Rey Ordonez would have admired as the New York Mets scored nine runs in the final three innings to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-8 Sunday at Three Rivers Stadium.

John Olerud hit two homers and Butch Huskey, Matt Franco and Todd Hundley also homered during a comeback that began against Francisco Cordova, one of the NL’s best starters, and ended with the Mets’ eighth victory in 10 games.

“The way we’re playing right now, anything can happen with this team,” Olerud said. “This has to be right up there with anything we’ve done this season, especially when you do it on the road.”

The Mets have won six of seven from Pittsburgh over the last two weekends, rallying four times after trailing or being tied in the late innings.

Pittsburgh loaded the bases with none out in the ninth against John Franco but Lopez, the shortstop, made a remarkable one-handed stop on Dale Sveum’s grounder up the middle to turn a double play. Franco then retired Mark Smith to move past Rollie Fingers into fourth place with 342 career saves.

“I thought it was through. I thought it was a hit,” said Sveum, who was 3-for-5. “Especially on artificial turf, I thought it was up the middle and through.’ “The degree of difficulty was nine. The execution was 10,” Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. “We’ve had a lot of big plays this year, but that was the biggest double play of the year. We’ve made some real good ones, but all things considered … to do that one was tough.”

Cordova, likely to be the Pirates’ only representative in the All-Star game, led 6-1 until Huskey hit a solo homer and Matt Franco followed with a two-run pinch-hit shot during a three-run seventh.

“All of a sudden, Francisco ran out of gas and started getting his pitches up and the bullpen couldn’t put a stop to it,” Pirates manager Gene Lamont said. “Our starters were going through a little slump before, and now our bullpen is.”

Kevin Young, who was 4-for-5, homered to make it 7-5 in the bottom half. But Cordova, coming off a two-hit shutout of Houston, left after walking Edgardo Alfonzo to start the eighth, and reliever Chris Peters (2-2) promptly surrendered consecutive homers to Olerud and Hundley.

After Peters hit Carl Everett with a pitch, Lopez put the Mets ahead 8-7 with a two-out RBI double off Rich Loiselle. Lopez has three RBIs in his last two games after getting only two in his first 19 games since replacing Ordonez, sidelined by a fractured hand.

Olerud’s second homer followed Alfonzo’s single in the ninth off Loiselle. Between them, Peters and Loiselle gave up five runs on five hits in 1 1-3 innings.

The Mets beat Pittsburgh for the 11th time in 13 games despite an ineffective start from former-Pirate Rick Reed, who gave up five runs and nine hits in three innings.

Matt Franco’s homer gave him six hits in his last six pinch-hitting attempts and raised his major league leading pinch-hitting average to .500 (12-for-24). He is 12-for-17 since starting 0-for-7.

Giants 7, Rockies 4

Denver

Shawn Estes (11-2) took a shutout into the seventh inning and won his seventh straight decision, leading San Francisco over Colorado.

Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent and Damon Berryhill hit solo homers for the Giants. It was Bonds’ 11th homer in his last 22 games.

Roger Bailey (8-6) gave up five runs and 10 hits in six innings, stopping his three-game winning streak.

Braves 6, Phillies 5

Atlanta

Pinch-hitter Keith Lockhart hit a grand slam and Atlanta overcame a five-run deficit to beat Philadelphia for a four-game sweep.

The Braves won their fifth in a row, and have taken nine straight series from Philadelphia. The Phillies have lost six consecutive games and 14 of 15.

Astros 10, Cubs 8

Chicago

Derek Bell and Brad Ausmus drove in three runs each to back Tommy Greene’s first start in 1-1/2 seasons, leading Houston over Chicago.

Bell hit a solo homer and a two-run single and Ausmus hit a three-run double for Houston, first in the N.L. Central at the midway point of the season despite a 40-41 record.

Marlins 5, Expos 3

Miami

Moises Alou and Bobby Bonilla each drove in two runs and Florida beat Montreal for a split of their four-game series.

Marlins manager Jim Leyland was ejected for the first time this season. He was tossed in the bottom of the eighth by first base umpire Wally Bell for arguing a check-swing.

Dodgers 10, Padres 4

Los Angeles

Pedro Astacio won for the first time in 11 starts and Eric Karros drove in four runs to lead Los Angeles over San Diego.

Los Angeles stopped a 10-game losing streak against the Padres and San Diego’s eight-game winning streak at Dodger Stadium.

Cardinals 6, Reds 5 (12)

Cincinnati

Ron Gant singled home the go-ahead run in the 12th inning as St. Louis overcame four blown leads and two long rain delays to beat Cincinnati.

The defending N.L. Central champions have won seven of their last nine games to close within a game of first place. The Cardinals took three of four games in the series.