Rodriguez Blasts Out Of Skid
National League
Henry Rodriguez broke out of a 7-for-76 slump with a two-out, ninth-inning grand slam Monday night as the Montreal Expos rallied to snap a three-game losing streak with an 8-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Montreal.
Rodriguez, who was 0 for 4 in the game and hitless in his previous 13 at-bats, hit a 1-2 pitch off Darren Holmes (3-2) just inside the foul pole in right field for his 19th home run.
Rodriguez has two grand slams this season and three for his career.
Ugueth Urbina (3-6) pitched a perfect ninth for the win.
Colorado lost for the 16th time in its last 18 games.
Padres 10, Marlins 2
Miami
Wally Joyner went 3 for 4 with two walks, leading San Diego’s barrage against All-Star Kevin Brown.
Joyner singled, doubled, tripled, scored twice and drove in a run. He also stole two bases, swiping home on the back end of a double steal. Outfielder John Cangelosi became the first position player to pitch for the Marlins, giving up only a walk in a scoreless ninth inning and retiring Joyner on a fly ball.
Brown (9-7) allowed 11 hits and seven runs.
Sterling Hitchcock (6-5) gave up two runs in 5-1/3 innings en route to his first victory since May 31.
Pirates 3, Phillies 2
Philadelphia
Curt Schilling struck out 16, most in the N.L. this season, but home runs by Al Martin and Kevin Polcovich gave Pittsburgh the victory.
Schilling (11-9) set a career high for strikeouts in only eight innings, and increased his league-leading total to 191.
Polcovich’s solo homer in the seventh came right after he missed a suicide-squeeze bunt, resulting in a Pirates runner being tagged out. The rookie’s second major league homer broke a 2-all tie.
Cardinals 7, Giants 2
St. Louis
Gary Gaetti continued his second-half surge with a home run, two doubles and three RBIs and Matt Morris allowed only one unearned run in seven innings for St. Louis.
It was a strange series finale, with Giants leadoff hitter Darryl Hamilton and manager Dusty Baker ejected after the first out for arguing a called third strike and the Cardinals announcing in the fourth that they were playing the game under protest because the Giants’ Bill Mueller was listed twice on their lineup card.
Braves 5, Dodgers 4 (10)
Atlanta
Jeff Blauser singled in the winning run with two outs in the 10th inning for Atlanta.
Fred McGriff, whose power numbers are down this season, went 3 for 4 and hit his second homer in four days, a 424-foot drive off Scott Radinsky to put the Braves ahead 4-3 in the seventh.
The next inning, Eric Karros hit a two-out homer against Chad Fox to even the score. It was the first run allowed in relief by a trio of Braves pitchers called up nine days earlier to revamp the bullpen, ending a scoreless streak of 14-2/3 innings for Fox, Mike Cather and Kevin Millwood.
Mets 5, Reds 3
New York
Carl Everett homered twice against Cincinnati for the second time this season, and surging New York completed a four-game sweep.
Everett had the third multi-homer game of his career. He also did it against the Reds on June 13.
Daulton traded to Marlins
Darren Daulton, the pillar of the Phillies’ 1993 World Series team, has been traded to the Marlins for outfielder Billy McMillon.
As a 10-year veteran, who has spent the last five seasons with the same team, Daulton had the right to veto any trade. He has spent 13 years with the Phillies and 17 years in the organization - the longest tenure with one team of any active National Leaguer.
In 269 at-bats, Daulton, 35, has a .264 average with 11 home runs, 42 RBIs, 54 walks and 57 strikeouts.
Clearing the bases
Eye on .400: Larry Walker went 0 for 2 for Colorado, dropping his average to .393. He left the game in the fourth inning because of a sore right knee. Tony Gwynn went 1 for 5 for San Diego, dropping to .385… . Darryl Kile, who pitched the Astros to a pair of victories, was picked as the N.L. player of the week. Including a four-hit shutout Sunday, he allowed three earned runs in two starts.