Astacio Dominant in Rockies’ Victory

Pedro Astacio and the Colorado Rockies were more than satisfied with how things ended at Phoenix.

Astacio gave up one hit before needing relief help in the ninth inning and the Rockies held off the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-1, Sunday.

Astacio tied a major league record by hitting four batters. After he plunked Luis Gonzalez to start the ninth, Matt Williams singled to finish Astacio (3-1).

“We had a chance to do it in the ninth,” Williams said. “It didn’t happen, but we gave ourselves a chance.”

Reliever Mike Myers gave up a single to Erubiel Durazo, bringing Jose Jimenez from the bullpen. With the bases loaded, no outs and trying to hold a 2-0 lead, Jimenez did the job to get his fifth save. He got Reggie Sanders to ground into a double play as a run scored, and retired Steve Finley on a grounder to end it.

Larry Walker hit a solo homer in the first inning off Armando Reynoso (1-3).

“You have to give credit to Astacio,” Reynoso said. “He pitched a pretty good game. But I pitched to give us a chance to win.”

Astacio became the 23rd pitcher in modern major league history to hit four batters. Orel Hershiser did it last year with the Dodgers.

Houston 4, St. Louis 3--Richard Hidalgo’s sacrifice fly ended an eighth-inning tie and Wade Miller struck out a career-high 13 to lead the Astros at Houston.

Cardinal rookie Albert Pujols hit two home runs to account for all three St. Louis runs. His two-run homer pulled the Cardinals within 3-2 in the fourth. The third baseman’s sixth shot of the season tied it at 3-3 in the eighth.

Miller (3-1) took over the National League lead in strikeouts with 40. He gave up five hits and two walks in eight innings.

Philadelphia 3, Atlanta 2--Amaury Telemaco pitched eight shutout innings and Doug Glanville hit a two-run homer at Philadelphia to help the Phillies complete their first three-game sweep of the Braves at Veterans Stadium since 1977. Telemaco (2-0) gave up four hits and struck out four. Jose Mesa relieved to start the ninth and the Braves went on to score two runs.

Pittsburgh 4, Chicago 3--Jason Kendall hit a two-run homer in the 10th off closer Jeff Fassero at Pittsburgh, helping the Pirates defeat the Cubs for the first time in six games this season. Chicago took a 3-2 lead in the top of the inning on Gary Matthews Jr.’s leadoff home run against closer Mike Williams (2-1) before Kendall’s heroics.

San Francisco 6, Milwaukee 4--Pinch-hitter Eric Davis hit a three-run homer to spark a five-run fifth inning for the Giants at San Francisco. Shawn Estes (1-1) gave up three runs, four hits and five walks in five innings. He struck out four. Robb Nen got the final four outs for his sixth save.

New York 5, Cincinnati 1--Edgardo Alfonzo’s first home run of the season and Todd Zeile’s three RBIs gave the Mets all they needed at Cincinnati. Tsuyoshi Shinjo also hit a home run for the Mets. Ruben Rivera’s leadoff home run in the seventh inning let Cincinnati tie the NL record of 181 consecutive games without being shut out.

Montreal 6, Florida 2--Chris Peters pitched five-plus solid innings for the Expos and avoided a four-game sweep to the Marlins with the victory at Miami. Vladimir Guerrero had two hits, one run and an RBI, and Orlando Cabrera tripled and scored and hit an RBI single for the Expos, who have dropped six of seven.