Sheffield Smacks Historic 11th Homer
National League
Gary Sheffield hit his 11th home run, tying the record for most homers in April, and Kevin Brown pitched a seven-hitter Friday night to lead the Florida Marlins over the San Francisco Giants 3-0 at San Francisco.
Three others have hit 11 homers in April - Willie Stargell with Pittsburgh in 1971; Graig Nettles with the New York Yankees in 1974 and Mike Schmidt with Philadelphia in 1976.
Expos 6, Rockies 2
Denver
David Segui and Moises Alou hit two-run homers as Montreal beat Colorado for its eighth consecutive win.
Montreal, on its longest winning streak since July 18-26, 1994, won its 16th game and tied the club record for April wins, a mark set in 1981.
Phillies 2, Reds 0
Cincinnati
Mike Grace retired the first 16 batters and threw eight shutout innings as Philadelphia won its fourth straight and Cincinnati lost its sixth straight.
Pirates 10, Mets 6
Pittsburgh
Jeff King, Orlando Merced and Charlie Hayes homered and Pittsburgh overcame the loss of starting pitcher Zane Smith to beat New York.
Smith strained his right hamstring while scoring on Al Martin’s two-run double in the second inning. The game had just resumed after a 59-minute rain delay when Smith was hurt, and there was no immediate report on the severity of his injury.
Braves 6, Cardinals 1
St. Louis
Steve Avery pitched seven shutout innings and Fred McGriff homered and doubled twice, leading Atlanta over St. Louis for its seventh win in 11 games.
Avery has pitched 15 straight shutout innings.
Dodgers 1, Cubs 0
Los Angeles
Pedro Astacio pitched eight strong innings and Delino DeShields homered for the second straight game, leading Los Angeles over Chicago.
The Dodgers won their fourth in a row and sent the Cubs to their seventh consecutive loss.
Padres 3, Astros 2
San Diego
Ken Caminiti went 3 for 3 and scored the winning run on Mike Hampton’s wild pitch in the sixth as San Diego beat Houston to win its sixth straight and improve to 16-7, its best start.
Clearing the bases
Cincinnati second baseman Bret Boone was out of the lineup for a second consecutive game with a sprained left ankle. … New York infielder Jeff Kent was delayed for 20 minutes at St. Louis’ Lambert International Airport this week because of a .44 magnum pistol he packed in his carry-on baggage. Kent, an avid hunter, said he forgot to put the gun with his checked luggage Thursday. … San Francisco’s Matt Williams collected his 1,000th hit, a ninth-inning single.