Mets, Dodgers Split Pair

National League

Chan Ho Park won for the eighth time in nine starts and Todd Zeile drove in three runs, leading Los Angeles over the New York Mets 4-3 Thursday night to give the Dodgers a doubleheader split at Shea Stadium.

In the opener, Joe Crawford shut down Los Angeles in his first major-league start, and Carlos Baerga hit a two-run homer as New York stopped a four-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory.

New York has dropped nine of 12 and fell 5-1/2 games behind Florida in the wild-card race.

Los Angeles remained two games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants, who were idle, in the West.

Padres 9, Pirates 4

Pittsburgh

Steve Finley and Greg Vaughn broke their slumps with solo home runs as San Diego beat Pittsburgh, stopping the Pirates’ three-game winning streak.

Finley, who was in an 11-for-67 slide, drove in three runs. Vaughn, in a 1-for-19 rut that included eight strikeouts, had three hits.

San Diego’s Ken Caminiti hit his 17th home run and Tony Gwynn added a sacrifice fly, giving him 101 RBIs.

Sterling Hitchcock (9-7) pitched five innings, allowing four runs and five hits.

Francisco Cordova (9-7) lost for just the third time in his last 15 starts.

Expos 3, Cardinals 2

Montreal

Mike Johnson got his first major-league win and combined with two relievers on a two-hitter.

Johnson (1-1), a 21-year-old Canadian, got his first big-league hit and scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning on Mike Lansing’s two-run double.

Astros 10, Rockies 4

Houston

Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio each homered and drove in two runs to lead Houston over Colorado.

Bagwell, who entered the game hitting .125 (3 for 24) for the homestand, homered in the first inning and had an RBI double in a four-run second. Sean Berry added a two-run double in the second.

The Astros rocked Colorado starter Roger Bailey (9-9) and reliever Darren Holmes for six runs and nine hits in the first two innings.

Clearing the bases

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park signed an endorsement agreement worth $895,000 to endorse computers for a South Korean company, the largest such contract ever awarded in that country… . With one more appearance behind the plate, Montreal’s Darrin Fletcher will have the second-highest total games caught in club history. Fletcher is tied with Mike Fitzgerald at 559. Gary Carter caught 1,342 games for Montreal.