Stocker Uses Up Stockpile Of Hrs
National League
Kevin Stocker, showing surprising power, homered twice and drove in five runs Thursday, leading the Philadelphia Phillies past the Colorado Rockies 7-1 in Denver.
Stocker, batting eighth in the lineup, set career highs for homers and RBIs in a game. He began the day with one homer - it came Wednesday at Coors Field - and six RBIs.
Stocker hit a three-run homer in the second inning and a two-run shot in the ninth. The former Central Valley star, who also walked twice, had one homer in 412 at-bats last season.
Padres 8, Cubs 3 San Diego
San Diego (15-7) moved within one win of its best start in club history, scoring five runs in the fifth to hand Chicago its sixth consecutive loss.
Giants 8, Braves 0 San Francisco
Mark Gardner (2-0) pitched a four-hitter and tied a career high by striking out 11 as San Francisco broke a three-game losing streak by beating Atlanta.
Mets 9, Cardinals 3 St. Louis
Brent Mayne, Lance Johnson and Butch Huskey homered in an eight-run seventh and rookie Alan Benes (3-1) suffered his first defeat as New York rallied to beat St. Louis.
Expos 8, Reds 4 Montreal
Shane Andrews hit his second grand slam and drove in a career-high five runs, leading Montreal over Cincinnati for its seventh straight win.
Dodgers 6, Astros 4 Los Angeles
Delino DeShields hit a two-run homer and Mike Piazza drove in three runs to lift Hideo Nomo and Los Angeles over Houston.
Marlins 4, Pirates 1 Pittsburgh
Quilvio Veras’ three-run homer backed Al Leiter’s shutout pitching for 7-2/3 innings as Florida ended a seven-game losing streak in Pittsburgh.
Jose, can you swing?
Jose Vizcaino of the New York Mets set a team record with a 9-for-9 streak that ended Thursday.
Vizcaino entered the game with five hits in his previous five at-bats. He singled in the first inning, doubled in the third, singled in the sixth and tripled and scored in an eight-run seventh.
The streak ended when he struck out on a full count in the eighth.
“I was trying to go for the cycle,” Vizcaino said with a laugh. “That’s the biggest mistake I made.”
Clearing the bases
Barry Bonds of San Francisco needs one more homer to become the fourth major leaguer with 300 homers and 300 stolen bases, joining Willie Mays, Andre Dawson and his father, Bobby Bonds… . Bernard Gilkey of New York has 14 RBIs in his last 14 games.
Montreal’s Mark Grudzielanek extended his major league-leading hit streak to 17 games with an RBI single… . Ryne Sandberg of Chicago missed the game with an inner ear infection and dizziness, the same ailment that forced him out of Wednesday night’s game. Manager Jim Riggleman said the flulike ailment isn’t serious.