Galarraga’s Swing Keys Rockies’ Sweep

Andres Galarraga took over the major league RBI lead Thursday, homering in his first two at-bats to propel the Colorado Rockies to a 10-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Denver.

Eric Young had his second consecutive four-hit game as the Rockies swept the three-game series and improved to 8-1 against the Cardinals this year, including 6-0 at Coors Field.

Galarraga, who has 120 RBIs, hit a three-run homer, his 37th, in the first inning and added a two-run shot to give the Rockies an 8-4 lead in the second. Both homers came against Mike Morgan (4-7), who was out of the game when Galarraga struck out in his third at-bat.

“That happens in baseball. Sometimes you get hot, sometimes you get cool,” said Galarraga, who went through a 0-for-28 spell in July. “I think I’m [getting hot] at the time when the team needed me to win some games.”

Colorado starter Roger Bailey (2-2) walked three of the first five hitters, and they all scored as the Cardinals took a 4-0 first-inning lead.

But Morgan, who earned his 100th career victory at Denver last year, gave up two walks in three innings, and they both scored--one on Galarraga’s 419-foot homer to right-center in the first and the other Young’s sacrifice fly in the second.

Cincinnati 3, Atlanta 2--Barry Larkin hit a solo home run in the 13th to lead the Reds at Atlanta, ending the Braves’ six-game winning streak in a game that ended more than six hours after it was scheduled to begin.

The game was pushed into early Friday morning by a rain delay of 2 hours 26 minutes at the beginning and four extra innings at the end. It finally ended at 1:47 a.m.

Andruw Jones, 19, homered twice for the Braves, but it was Larkin who delivered the deciding blow against Joe Borowski (1-1), the sixth Atlanta pitcher.

Leading off the 13th, the Reds’ shortstop hit a 2-1 pitch over the center-field fence, his 24th homer.

Cincinnati ended a three-game losing streak. Hector Carrasco (4-3) earned the win and Jeff Brantley pitched the final inning for his NL-leading 34th save.

The game started late because of a thunderstorm that quickly gave the outfield the appearance of a small lake. Most of the water drained off and the field was fairly dry by the time it finally ended--after a long, wild night that featured the ejection of Reds manager Ray Knight for arguing a pitch call and a fan climbing to the top of the screen behind home plate.

Montreal 5, San Francisco 4--Sherman Obando hit a tie-breaking home run in the eighth after replacing an ailing Moises Alou and the Expos rallied from a four-run deficit at San Francisco.

The game was marked by the early departures of Barry Bonds, Kim Batiste and Alou, all of whom left because of injury or illness. Alou went out because of an intestinal disorder, Batiste had a right hand injury, and Bonds aggravated a hamstring injury while running out a third-inning single.

Jeff Fassero (13-7) gave up 10 hits and withstood three Expo errors to win his fifth consecutive decision. He struck out five and walked one in eight innings, helping Montreal end a three-game losing streak.

Pittsburgh 8, Houston 6--Jeff King hit a grand slam on Xavier Hernandez’s first pitch with one out in the ninth to lead the Pirates at Houston.

With Houston leading, 5-4, Billy Wagner (2-1) walked Jason Kendall to open the ninth and John Wehner sacrificed him to second. Pinch-hitter Jermaine Allensworth walked, and Alvin Morman replaced Wagner, who apparently injured his left leg.

An infield single by Al Martin loaded the bases before King hit Hernandez’s first pitch over the left-field wall for his fifth grand slam, his second this season. It was his 25th homer.