Gant Gives Reds Something Extra

National League

Ron Gant led off the bottom of the 10th inning with his second homer of the game and third gamewinning homer this season, lifting the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Monday night in Cincinnati.

Houston’s bullpen absorbed its first loss of the season and ended a streak of 17 1/3 scoreless innings when Dave Veres (1-1) hung a 0-1 pitch to Gant, who lined it just inside the leftfield foul screen for his eighth homer of the season. Gant also homered to tie the game in the sixth.

Jeff Brantley (2-0) retired all five batters he faced to help the Reds pick up their fifth victory in six extrainning games, most in the league.

The Astros gave Doug Drabek a two-run lead on Chris Donnels’ single in the fourth, but the slumping right-hander let it slip away with two hanging pitches.

Jeff Branson pulled a belt-high pitch for his second homer in the fifth, and Gant pulled a high 0-2 slider to tie the game. Gant has only eight career hits off Drabek, but four are home runs.

Expos 5, Marlins 2

Montreal

Carlos Perez (3-0), undefeated in three majorleague starts, allowed two runs in the first inning then one-hit the Marlins over the next six, leading Montreal past Florida.

The Expos snapped a four-game losing streak, while the Marlins had theirs extended to six.

Rockies 9, Cubs 8

Denver

Roberto Mejia broke an 0-for-12 slump when he slapped a run-scoring single off Randy Myers with one out in the ninth inning to rally Colorado past Chicago.

The rally began when Dante Bichette led off the ninth with a single against Mike Perez, bringing on Myers. After Bichette was sacrificed to second, he scored the tying run on Vinny Castilla’s double down the right field line.

Clearing the bases

Florida has averaged 9.6 runs in its five wins, but only 2.8 in its 19 losses… . John Vander Wal of Colorado raised his average to .625 (10-for-16) as a pinch hitter. … Houston’s Craig Biggio was selected player of the week.