NATIONAL LEAGUE / ROUNDUP : Alfonzo Perfect, Powerful for Mets

Until Monday, Edgardo Alfonzo was having the type of season that had some people mentioning him as a most valuable player candidate. Monday night, he had a game like nobody in the National League has had this year.

Alfonzo went six for six with three homers as the New York Mets handed the Houston Astros their most lopsided home loss with a 17-1 victory.

Alfonzo, who also scored a team-record six times and drove in five runs, hit a solo homer in the first, singled and scored a run in the second, hit a two-run homer in the fourth and added a solo shot in the sixth.

Alfonzo singled and scored in the eighth and hit an RBI ground-rule double. Along with breaking the team record of five runs, Alfonzo broke the Met records of five hits and 13 total bases. He had 16.

“Tonight I just started having a good time and enjoying every at-bat,” Alfonzo said. “It’s fun when you do good and win. I really enjoyed this game. It was one of those nights when everything was going well.”

Darryl Hamilton was four for five with a homer and three RBIs and Mike Piazza also homered for New York. Every Mets starter except for pitcher Masato Yoshii had at least one hit.

The Mets moved to within 2 1/2 games of the Braves in the NL East and the Astros dropped to a half-game game ahead of Cincinnati in the NL Central.

San Francisco 6, Philadelphia 4--Barry Bonds’ second homer of the game, a two-run shot in the 10th off Billy Brewer, gave the Giants a victory over the Phillies at San Francisco.

Bill Mueller walked to open the 10th and Bonds hit the first pitch from Brewer (0-1) over the center-field fence. Bonds, who has homered in nine of his last 15 games, has 28 homers this season. He moved past Andre Dawson into 23rd place on the career list with his 438th and 439th homers.

Arizona 5, Montreal 4--Pinch-hitter Greg Colbrunn drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and Rob Ryan was three for four with a home run and critical eight-inning single as the Diamondbacks won at Phoenix.

San Diego 8, Chicago 4--Quilvio Veras hit a tying three-run double in the seventh, then scored the go-ahead run on catcher Jeff Reed’s throwing error as the Padres defeated the Cubs at San Diego.

Pittsburgh 11, Colorado 8--Brian Giles homered twice and Warren Morris went three for three with a home run and triple as the Pirates defeated the Rockies, ending the Rockies’ three-game winning streak.

Florida 4, St. Louis 2--Rookie Vladimir Nunez outpitched 16-game winner Kent Bottenfield at St. Louis and Mike Lowell had a two-run double as the Marlins handed the Cardinals their seventh consecutive loss.

Cincinnati 11, Atlanta 3--Jeffrey Hammonds, Sean Casey and Jason LaRue hit two-run homers at Cincinnati as the Reds ended the Braves’ 10-game winning streak.