Roberts’ Clutch Hit Keys Padres Victory
National League
Bip Roberts didn’t want to play shortstop in extra innings. He made sure he didn’t have to.
Roberts singled home Steve Finley in the bottom of the ninth to give the San Diego Padres a 6-5 win over the New York Mets on Wednesday.
“I was going to come in from center field and play shortstop,” Roberts said. “I didn’t feel like it. My intent was to get the game over with.”
Roberts, San Diego’s jack-of-all-trades, started in center since Steve Finley was being rested with a sore lower back.
Braves 6, Cardinals 1 Atlanta
Ryan Klesko’s two-run double highlighted a six-run fourth inning and Tom Glavine had an RBI double and gained his 14th victory as Atlanta defeated St. Louis.
Mark Petkovsek (5-5) had retired the first nine Braves in order before Marquis Grissom started the uprising with a walk and shortstop Ozzie Smith booted Mark Lemke’s double-play grounder.
Rockies 10, Cubs 4 Chicago
Fill-in Jason Bates capped a five-run third inning with a three-run double as Colorado broke out of a rare hitting slump to defeat Chicago.
Colorado, which leads the National League in batting, but had a .207 average and scored only 27 runs in the first seven games of its road trip, had 14 hits against eight Chicago pitchers.
Reds 7, Astros 3 Houston
John Smiley returned from the disabled list to allow four hits over seven innings and Mark Lewis hit a three-run homer to lead Cincinnati over Houston.
Smiley (12-2) had not pitched since Aug. 21, when he suffered a groin injury. But he was in top form against the Astros, improving his road record to 8-0.
Marlins 2, Pirates 1 Miami
Greg Colbrunn capped a two-run first inning with an RBI single and extended his hitting streak to 17 games as Florida edged Pittsburgh.
Willie Banks (2-5) allowed six hits and one run in seven innings for the victory, his second since June 1994. Robb Nen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 19th save.
Phillies 1, Dodgers 0 Los Angeles
Mike Grace allowed two infield singles over seven innings for his first major-league victory and Kevin Elster hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth as the Philadelphia dropped Los Angeles into a tie for the N.L. West lead.
Ricky Bottalico and Heathcliff Slocumb combined on the three-hit shutout with Grace (1-1), the fourth by the Phillies against the Dodgers this season.
Expos 8, Giants 2 San Francisco
Tavo Alvarez allowed two hits in seven innings for his first major-league win and Montreal scored in each of the first five innings to beat San Francisco.
Mike Lansing hit a three-run homer and Dave Silvestri and Tony Tarasco added solo homers for the Expos, who broke a three-game losing streak.
Clearing the bases
N.L. strikeout leader Hideo Nomo’s fingernail is cracked worse than the other two times, according to Dodgers pitching coach Dave Wallace… . Brian Jordan missed his fourth game in a row for St. Louis with a sprained right wrist from crashing into the wall last Saturday.