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NL: Piazza negates Bonds' return

Associated Press
Published May 7, 2004

NEW YORK - Mike Piazza hit another big home run to make sure Barry Bonds' return to the Giants lineup didn't stop San Francisco's skid.

Piazza homered off Jim Brower with two outs in the 11th inning Thursday night, giving the Mets a 2-1 victory and a three-game sweep of the last-place Giants.

A night earlier, Piazza hit his 352nd home run as a catcher, passing Carlton Fisk and setting a major-league record he has coveted for years.

Ending what began as a tight duel between the Mets' Al Leiter and the Giants' Jason Schmidt, Piazza hit a drive off Brower over a leaping Bonds in leftfield.

Bonds, who had missed three starts with a sinus infection, was 0-for-3 with two intentional walks.

Bonds didn't threaten to clear the fences, flying out in the second and seventh around a foul out in the fourth, when Piazza reached over the railing by the Mets dugout to make the catch.

With two outs and none on in the ninth and the score tied, New York reliever Braden Looper gave Bonds an intentional walk. Mike Stanton did the same in the 11th with runners on first and second. Pedro Feliz then took a called third strike on a full count from David Weathers.

Leiter entered with the second-worst run support (1.4 per game) among major-league starters, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Only Montreal's Tomo Ohka (0.4) had been provided less offense.

Leiter improved his league-leading ERA to 1.53. He allowed two hits going into the seventh, when he gave up a leadoff single to Marquis Grissom, then picked him off first. After Leiter retired Bonds, he hung a breaking ball to Pedro Feliz, who connected for a long homer to left.

Schmidt, who took a no-hit bid into the sixth before Todd Zeile's one-out single, gave back the lead when he allowed Karim Garcia's homer leading off the bottom half.

CUBS 11, D'BACKS 3: Derrek Lee went 5-for-5 and drove in five and Matt Clement won his fifth straight start for host Chicago.

Lee homered in setting a career high for hits. His three-run shot keyed a five-run fifth inning for the Cubs, who were shut out Wednesday and had managed 22 runs in their previous nine games.

The biggest winner so far on the Cubs' high-profile starting staff, Clement allowed three runs and seven hits over seven innings.

Trailing 3-1 entering the fifth, the Cubs got three straight singles to knock out Elmer Dessens and make it a one-run game. Aramis Ramirez greeted Oscar Villarreal with another single to tie it, and one out later Lee homered to left to make it 6-3.

CARDINALS 7, PHILLIES 4: Hector Luna's three-run homer capped a five-run first for St. Louis, which ended Randy Wolf's 21-inning scoreless streak and improved to 9-3 on the road. It's the Cardinals' best road start since they were 10-2 in 1946. Jeff Suppan pitched six shaky innings, allowing six hits and four runs. The Cardinals got a break in the first on an error and another misplay that led to four unearned runs.

PADRES 7, BRAVES 3: Khalil Greene led off the game with a home run and Jay Payton also homered in the first to back Brian Lawrence for visiting San Diego. The Padres scored three quickly off former Crystal River pitcher Mike Hampton and won for the ninth time in 12 games.

DODGERS 9, MARLINS 4: Shawn Green homered twice and drove in four to back Kazuhisa Ishii, who earned his fifth win for visiting Los Angeles. Juan Encarnacion homered and drove in three for the Dodgers, Milton Bradley homered and Eric Gagne extended his major-league record to 72 consecutive saves.

ASTROS 5, PIRATES 2: Wade Miller shut out Pittsburgh for 71/3 innings and host Houston completed a three-game sweep. The Pirates have won one of their past 14 games at Houston. Miller gave up six hits in his longest outing of the season.

REDS 9, BREWERS 6: Dropped below cleanup for the first time in 14 years, Ken Griffey homered and drove in a season-high five for host Cincinnati. Griffey hit fifth, his lowest slot in the lineup since June 22, 1990, for Seattle at Texas.

EXPOS 3, ROCKIES 1: Livan Hernandez pitched a five-hitter for host Montreal's first complete game of the season, escaping a late jam.

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