National League Roundup: Cardinals win fifth in row

Kile allows two hits in seven innings versus Cincinnati

? Darryl Kile feels like he’s a contributor.

A 16-game winner last year, Kile won his second game of the season by allowing two hits in seven innings as the St. Louis Cardinals extended their winning streak to five, beating the Cincinnati Reds 3-1 Friday night.

“When the team was going through a tough stretch, I didn’t do my job,” said Kile, who had lost his last three starts. “We’re starting to play a little better and it’s nice to help out, I guess.”

Gene Stechschulte and Jason Isringhausen completed a combined two-hitter and Fernando Vina’s sacrifice fly off Scott Sullivan (3-1) snapped a seventh-inning tie for the Cardinals, who ended Cincinnati’s four-game winning streak.

“We just didn’t hit tonight,” manager Bob Boone said. “We had a couple of opportunities to break it open, and we didn’t do it.”

St. Louis (21-20) has won seven of eight overall, closing within four games of first-place Cincinnati and moving above .500 for the first time since April 19 (9-8).

Albert Pujols hit his sixth home run, and first at home, and also doubled for the Cardinals.

Pinch-hitter Miguel Cairo added an eighth-inning sacrifice fly for St. Louis, which has outscored opponents 31-12 during their streak.

The game was played in 47-degree weather and began after a 59-minute rain delay. There were more than 10,500 no-shows among the 36,103 who bought tickets.

Pitching in short sleeves, Kile (2-3) ended his three-game losing streak, allowing one run and five walks against the team that beat him 8-1 last Saturday in Cincinnati. Kile held the Reds without a hit until Jason LaRue singled to start the sixth, and gave up a run in the seventh when he hit LaRue with a pitch with the bases loaded.

Astros 7, Pirates 4

Houston Jeff Bagwell hit a three-run homer, and the Houston Astros extended their winning streak to a season-high six games.

Trailing 4-2 in the sixth, Julio Lugo walked and went to third on Craig Biggio’s single. Bagwell then connected off Ron Villone (2-5) for his ninth home run of the season, giving Houston a 5-4 lead.

Bagwell went 3-for-4 and scored twice. He tied Yogi Berra for 57th place on the career list with his 358th home run.

Houston added two in the eighth on Richard Hidalgo’s bases-loaded walk and second baseman Pokey Reese’s error.

Ricky Stone (2-1) pitched 2 1-3 scoreless innings.

Brewers 6, Cubs 2

Milwaukee Glendon Rusch pitched seven strong innings, and rookie Alex Sanchez hit a bases-loaded triple. Rusch (3-3) gave up two runs on six hits and improved to 5-1 lifetime against the Cubs. Sanchez, who drew manager Jerry Royster’s ire Thursday for failing to run out a bunt that led to an easy double play, cleared the bases and gave Milwaukee a 4-0 lead when he lined a fastball from Matt Clement (1-3) into right-center for a standup triple with one out in the fifth.

Dodgers 8, Expos 5

Los Angeles Eric Karros hit a two-run homer, and Marquis Grissom added a solo shot. The Dodgers broke open a close game with a four-run sixth inning, highlighted by Adrian Beltre’s two-run double. Hideo Nomo (3-5) got the win, giving up three runs on six hits and five walks in six innings. Again having problems with his control, Nomo threw 41 of 102 pitches out of the strike zone.

Braves 4, Rockies 2

Denver Tom Glavine pitched into the seventh inning and hit an RBI single, and Wes Helms homered. Glavine (6-2) allowed two runs one earned on six hits in six innings for his 230th victory.

Mets 13, Padres 4

San Diego Mike Piazza hit a grand slam to surpass 1,000 RBIs, and Edgardo Alfonzo started a triple play. With runners on first and second in the bottom of the fifth, Wiki Gonzalez hit a sharp grounder to Alfonzo, who took two steps to the bag to force Cruz. Alfonzo threw to Alomar to force Sean Burroughs, and Alomar completed the triple play by throwing to Vaughn. Gonzalez didn’t appear to be running full speed until about two-thirds of the way to first, when he suddenly picked up the pace, but it was too late.

Giants 9, Marlins 3

San Francisco Pinch-hitter Tom Goodwin hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the seventh inning and Tsuyoshi Shinjo added a grand slam in the eighth.

D’backs 12, Phillies 9

Phoenix Erubiel Durazo homered three times and drove in nine runs the most in the majors in three years to lead Arizona. Playing his second game of the season since coming off the disabled list, Durazo hit three two-run homers. Durazo had a chance to tie the major league record of four home runs, matched 15 days ago by Seattle’s Mike Cameron, when he came to bat with two outs in the eighth, but lined a 3-2 pitch for a three-run double.