Young’s Slam Leads Pirates Past Expos

Pittsburgh Manager Gene Lamont has been trying to find a place for Kevin Young to play. After Sunday, he might have to try a little harder.

Young’s first grand slam highlighted a five-run eighth inning that lifted the Pirates over the Expos, 8-6, at Montreal.

“I’m just looking for spots to get him in the lineup,” Lamont said. “He’ll get some playing time at third base, first base, in the outfield. I just can’t lose track of what we’re trying to accomplish here.”

Young said he’ll do whatever he’s asked to do.

“[Lamont] is doing a great job with our team,” he said. “I’m just here. Whenever he puts me in the lineup, I’m trying my best. I’m not worrying about anything else. I don’t want to mess up the chemistry of this team.”

The win helped Pittsburgh earn a split of their four-game series with Montreal and finish a six-game trip at 3-3.

Marc Wilkins (4-0) pitched one inning for the win. Rich Loiselle pitched a perfect ninth inning for his fourth save.

Mike Lansing hit two homers for Montreal, including a seventh-inning shot off Wilkins that put the Expos ahead, 4-3.

Colorado 8, Houston 5--Ellis Burks had three hits, including a home run, and Walt Weiss added a homer for the Rockies, who overcame an early 4-0 deficit to win at Denver.

Roger Bailey (5-4) survived a shaky start and ended a three-game losing streak. Mike Munoz retired pinch-hitter Pat Listach with the bases loaded in the ninth inning for his first save.

Bailey, who hadn’t won since May 4 and had a 5.44 earned-run average in his last three starts, worked eight innings and gave up five runs, four earned, and nine hits. Burks, Weiss and Andres Galarraga drove in two runs each and Dante Bichette also had three hits.

“We did the little things that you have to do to win, like advancing runners to set up runs,” Colorado Manager Don Baylor said.

Jeff Bagwell doubled in two runs to give the Astros a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Craig Biggio drove in a run with a double and scored on Bill Spiers’ single to make it 4-0 in the second.

The Rockies ended a string of 15 scoreless innings in the third when Burks singled in a run.

Weiss’ homer in the fourth inning off of Houston starter Chris Holt cut the Astros’ lead to 4-2.

Weiss, who had gone 185 at-bats since his last homer, hit Holt’s pitch just over the right-field wall for his 20th homer since starting his major league career in 1987.

“I can’t say I was looking home run because I don’t go deep very often,” he said. “I got a fastball over the middle of the plate and got a good swing at it.”

The Rockies took the lead in with three runs in the fifth, chasing Holt. Galarraga drove in a run with an infield out and Vinny Castilla and Weiss had run-scoring singles.

St. Louis 9, San Francisco 3--Todd Stottlemyre earned his 100th victory, striking out eight in seven strong innings for the Cardinals at San Francisco.

Stottlemyre (3-3) is 100-91 in 10 seasons with Toronto, Oakland and St. Louis. He gave up three runs and six hits and struck out the side in the second and third innings.

Tony La Russa, who has managed Stottlemyre for the past three seasons, said the right-hander’s 100 wins certify “he’s a legitimate, winning major league starter.

“He just has more ways to deal with a hitter, and he’s really worked on keeping his concentration,” La Russa said when asked how Stottlemyre has changed.

Willie McGee, Ray Lankford, Royce Clayton and Delino DeShields each drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who were successful on all six of their steal attempts.

DeShields doubled and tripled, walked twice and stole three bases. He scored twice, giving him five runs in his last two games.

William VanLandingham (2-3) matched the shortest outing of his career by lasting only two-plus innings for the Giants. He gave up four runs and four hits and four walks.

Cincinnati 7, Chicago 5--Bret Boone’s sacrifice fly broke a tie and highlighted a four-run fifth inning that rallied the Reds over the Cubs at Cincinnati.

The Cubs hit three homers off Pete Schourek (3-4), including back-to-back shots by Scott Servais and Jose Hernandez in the fourth inning for a 4-2 lead. The Reds put together six singles--two of them infield hits off the glove of reliever Kent Bottenfield (1-1)--for the go-ahead rally.

The Cubs put runners on second and third with one out in the ninth, but Jeff Shaw got the final two outs for his sixth save.

The Reds won two of three in the series between the major leagues’ worst teams. Cincinnati has the worst record in the majors at 16-31 and trails Chicago (17-30) by one game.

New York at Philadelphia--The game was postponed because of rain and will be made up as part of a twi-night doubleheader Sept. 15.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Ellis Burks

Team: Colorado

Performance: 3 for 4, 3 runs, 2 RBIs, double, home run

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: D. DeShields

Team: St. Louis

Performance: 2 for 2, 2 runs, double, triple, 2 walks, 3 steals

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Bobby Bonilla

Team: Florida

Performance: 2 for 4, 3 RBIs, run, home run

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Kevin Young

Team: Pittsburgh

Performance: 2 for 3, 2 runs, 4 RBIs, double, grand slam

Team’s Result: Win

PITCHING

Player: Ismael Valdes

Team: Dodgers

Performance: 7 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 6 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Kevin Brown

Team: Florida

Performance: 9 innings, 12 hits, 2 runs, 8 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win