Hill, Bonds Dominate As Giants Slam Astros
Glenallen Hill hit two home runs, including his fourth career grand slam, and Barry Bonds also drove in five runs Wednesday to power the visiting San Francisco Giants to an 11-5 victory over the Houston Astros.
Hill’s grand slam highlighted a six-run fourth inning as the Giants gave rookie Osvaldo Fernandez (2-0) a boost. Hill added a solo homer in the ninth, his third.
Bonds homered and went 3 for 4 to raise his batting average from .233 to .294. He had an RBI single in the first, a two-run homer in the third and added a two-run double in the fourth as the Giants shelled Darryl Kile.
The Giants won for the fifth time in seven games after starting the season 0-2. Their 5-4 record marks the first time they have been better than .500 since July 3.
It was another lopsided loss for the Astros, whose 3-6 homestand equaled their worst of last season.
Cardinals 4, Expos 1
St. Louis
Rookie Alan Benes, making his fifth career start, pitched a four-hitter to lead St. Louis to its victory over Montreal.
Benes (1-0), the younger brother and teammate of Andy Benes, took a shutout into the ninth before Rondell White led off with a homer. Benes, 24, struck out a career-high 11 - six looking - and walked two in his first complete game.
Rockies 10, Cubs 9
Denver
Larry Walker and Andres Galarraga hit back-to-back RBI doubles with two outs in the eighth as Colorado rallied to defeat Chicago.
Mike Perez, the fifth Chicago pitcher, entered the game to protect the Cubs’ 9-8 lead and promptly hit Walt Weiss and Ellis Burks. Doug Jones came on and got Dante Bichette to ground into a double play. But Walker and Galarraga followed with doubles to send Colorado to its 200th franchise victory.
Bichette went 3 for 5 with three RBIs.
Phillies 7, Pirates 6
Pittsburgh
Benito Santiago hit a three-run homer off rookie reliever Francisco Cordova and Philadelphia overcame Jeff King’s two homers and five RBIs to beat Pittsburgh.
Reds 9, Mets 7
Cincinnati
Eddie Taubensee drove in four runs and Eric Davis doubled home the tie-breaking run in the seventh, rallying Cincinnati past New York.
Padres 3, Marlins 0
San Diego
Bob Tewksbury and two relievers combined on a five-hitter, and Brad Ausmus singled home two runs in the first as San Diego defeated Florida.
Dodgers 9, Braves 2
Los Angeles
Billy Ashley, Greg Gagne and Eric Karros homered, and Los Angeles capitalized on five Atlanta errors.
Clearing the bases
Montreal’s Mike Lansing, who led the league in hitting entering the game, singled in the sixth and is 15 for 29 for the season… . Orlando Merced, 0 for 18 in Pittsburgh’s first six games, went 4 for 4… . On Tuesday, Rod Beck became San Francisco’s career leader in saves, earning his 128th to pass Gary Lavelle, who pitched 11 seasons for the Giants (1974-84).