Galarraga Keeps Rockies Rollin’
National League
Andres Galarraga took over the major-league RBI lead Thursday, homering in his first two at-bats to propel the Colorado Rockies to a 10-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Denver.
Eric Young had his second straight four-hit game as the Rockies swept the three-game series and improved to 8-1 against St. Louis this year.
Galarraga, who has 120 RBIs, hit a three-run homer, his 37th, in the first inning and added a two-run shot to give the Rockies an 8-4 lead in the second.
Colorado starter Roger Bailey (2-2) walked three of the first five St. Louis hitters he faced, and they all scored as the Cardinals jumped to a 4-0 first-inning lead.
Pirates 8, Astros 6
Houston
Jeff King hit a grand slam on Xavier Hernandez’s first pitch with one out in the ninth inning to give Pittsburgh its victory over Houston.
With Houston leading 5-4, loser Billy Wagner (2-1) walked Jason Kendall to open the ninth and John Wehner sacrificed him to second. Pinch-hitter Jermaine Allensworth then walked, and Alvin Morman replaced Wagner, who apparently injured his left leg.
An infield single by Al Martin loaded the bases before King hit Hernandez’s first pitch over the left-field wall for his fifth career grand slam.
Reds 3, Braves 2 (13)
Atlanta
Barry Larkin’s solo home run in the 13th inning allowed Cincinnati to snap Atlanta’s six-game winning streak in a game that began with a rain delay of 2 hours, 26 minutes and ended more than 6 hours after it was scheduled to begin.
Expos 5, Giants 4
San Francisco
Sherman Obando hit a tie-breaking home run in the eighth inning after replacing an ailing Moises Alou and Montreal rallied from a four-run deficit to beat San Francisco.
Dodgers 8, Phillies 5
Los Angeles
Eric Karros and Raul Mondesi hit two-run homers and Pedro Astacio won his fourth straight decision as Los Angeles ended a three-game losing streak by beating Philadelphia.
Clearing the bases
Barry Bonds, who has played in a San Francisco franchise-record 355 consecutive games, aggravated a left hamstring strain while running out a third-inning single… . Atlanta’s Marquis Grissom doubled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 26 games … Pittsburgh has hit a club-record nine pinch-hit home runs, three short of the major-league record… . Houston manager Terry Collins fined Orlando Miller an unspecified amount for shouting and making an obscene gesture at fans who booed him after he struck out in Tuesday’s sixth inning.