Diamondbacks Maintain Their Lead

Matt Williams singled home Tony Womack with the winning run in the 10th inning at Phoenix, and the Arizona Diamondbacks maintained their lead in the NL West by defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3, Tuesday night.

Williams slashed a grounder just inside third base on the first pitch by former Dodger Mike Fetters, Pittsburgh’s new closer. Damaso Marte (0-1) had walked Womack and Luis Gonzalez with one out.

Miguel Batista (8-7), usually a starter, retired three of four batters in the 10th. Arizona has won five in a row for the first time since a nine-game win streak from May 25 to June 3.

Brian Giles tied the score in the ninth with a leadoff homer against Byung-Hyun Kim.

Gonzalez homered in the second, his 45th of the season, and raised his RBI total to 111, three behind Sammy Sosa of the Cubs.

Jason Kendall doubled in the second and scored on Craig Wilson’s single, which ended Arizona’s streak of 36 innings without an earned run off its starters.

Pat Meares then flied out to center, and Steve Finley threw out Kevin Young at the plate.

After the tag, Young brawled with catcher Mike DiFelice, causing both dugouts and bullpens to empty.

Chicago 3, Houston 1--Sammy Sosa hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning at Houston as the Cubs reclaimed first place in the NL Central.

Chicago, which moved a half-game ahead of the Astros, had lost three in a row. It was Sosa’s 43rd home run of the season.

St. Louis 7, Cincinnati 1--Matt Morris retired 22 consecutive batters and pitched a four-hitter at St. Louis, stretching the Cardinal winning streak to six.

Morris (15-7), who struck out eight and walked one, improved to 11-2 this year at Busch Stadium and sent Cincinnati to its seventh loss in 10 games.

Colorado 5, Atlanta 4--Rookie Juan Uribe hit an RBI single in the 10th inning off Steve Karsay, lifting the Rockies at Denver.

The Braves extended their losing streak to six games--their longest since September 1996--and fell two games behind NL East-leading Philadelphia.

Philadelphia 10, Milwaukee 4--Travis Lee drove in four runs and Bobby Abreu had three RBIs at Milwaukee.

David Coggin (4-1) gave up two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out five and walking three. Lee had a two-run double, a sacrifice fly, and a run-scoring groundout.

San Diego 6, New York 0--Junior Herndon pitched 7 1/3 innings for his first major league victory, leading the Padres at San Diego.

San Francisco 13, Florida 7--Barry Bonds hit his 51st homer of the season, a grand slam into the waters of McCovey Cove, to take another step on the fastest homer pace in baseball history.

In the sixth inning, Bonds put an 0-and-2 pitch from Marlin right-hander Ricky Bones high over the right-field wall at Pacific Bell Park and into the water. It was Bonds’ 10th career grand slam, and his second of the season.