Astros Rout Cubs To Clinch Central
Eleven years to the day after clinching their last postseason berth, the Houston Astros finally won baseball’s worst division, routing the Chicago Cubs 9-1 Thursday night behind Brad Ausmus’ three-run homer in a six-run seventh inning.
Houston, just 82-77, stumbled to the division title by going 23-28 since Aug. 1.
Mike Hampton (15-10) pitched a four-hitter for his seventh complete game.
Jeff Bagwell hit the Astrodome ceiling with a popup in the sixth inning in what is believed to be the first fair ball to strike the top since the stadium opened in 1964. The ball appeared to be headed toward third, but pitcher Jeremi Gonzalez (11-9) caught it for an out.
Expos 3, Marlins 2
Montreal
Montreal’s Pedro Martinez became the 14th pitcher since 1900 and the second this year to record 300 strikeouts in a season, and David Segui homered in the ninth to lead Montreal past Florida.
Braves 3, Phillies 2 (10)
Philadelphia
The Braves reached 100 wins for only the second time this century.
Atlanta, which beat the Phillies for the 10th time in 12 games this season, improved to a major-league best 100-59. The Braves won 104 games in 1993 and also achieved the feat twice in Boston, winning 102 in 1892 and 1898.
Andruw Jones drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the 10th.
Dodgers 9, Rockies 5
Denver
Los Angeles moved within two games of San Francisco in the N.L. West as Todd Zeile homered twice to lead the Dodgers over Colorado.
Hideo Nomo (14-12), who had two losses and two no-decisions in his previous four starts, limited the Rockies to three runs and five hits in seven innings.
Zeile hit his 30th and 31st homers off former Dodger Pedro Astacio.
Reds 4, Cards 3 (14)
St. Louis
Mark McGwire remained stuck on 55 homers, getting two singles in six at-bats as St. Louis fell to Cincinnati.
McGwire came to bat with the winning run on second and two outs in the 12th, but struck out swinging against Scott Sullivan.
Clearing the bases
Philadelphia shortstop Kevin Stocker committed three errors in the first four games of the season; he has eight in 143 games since… . The Dodgers’ Mike Piazza had three hits, giving him 195 for the season, breaking the major-league record for most hits by a catcher. Ted Simmons (1975) and Joe Torre (1964) each had 193.