Phillies Spoil Night for Astros

Oh, well, wins in stadium openers aren’t that important.

Scott Rolen broke up a scoreless game with a seventh-inning home run, and Houston’s Enron Field officially opened Friday night with the Philadelphia Phillies winning, 4-1, in the Astros’ first outdoor home game since 1964.

“It was such a wonderful atmosphere,” Astro Manager Larry Dierker said. “The most disappointing aspect of the loss was we couldn’t get enough going to give our fans a chance to show their presence. We couldn’t make those vibrations pay off with a win.”

Ron Gant added a two-run homer off Doug Henry in the eighth for the Phillies, who avoided their first 0-4 start since 1987 before a sellout crowd of 41,583.

“If you hit to left-center or right-center, you have to crush the ball,” Astro shortstop Tim Bogar said. “We are still in a learning process. I can’t say yet if it’s good or bad.”

With former President George Bush and Texas Gov. George W. Bush looking on, the $248-million, retractable-roof ballpark on the edge of downtown opened with a pregame ceremony that included skydivers and the raising of the NL Central flag, the Astros’ third straight.

There were three exhibition games last week against the New York Yankees and Texas, but this was the one that counted.

The roof was open and the temperature was 78 degrees, a stark contrast to the climate-controlled Astrodome, the Astros’ old home.

“It took me about 15 seconds to get used to the ballpark; it was electric,” Rolen said. “The people were excited about the new ballpark. It was great to be here.”

Rolen was the first batter to hit a regular-season homer in the park.

“It’s a neat thing,” he said. “I remember thinking this afternoon, that maybe I could be the first one.”

Octavio Dotel yielded only three hits until Rolen led off the seventh with a drive over the left-field scoreboard, his third home run of the season.

Rico Brogna’s double chased Dotel, and Mickey Morandini’s sacrifice fly off Doug Henry made it 2-0 for the Phillies, who also opened the Astrodome on April 12, 1965.

‘It’s a great ballpark. We’re going to have some great memories here,” Jeff Bagwell said. “We’re going to hit a lot of home runs. We just didn’t do it tonight.”

Randy Wolf also gave up a leadoff homer in the seventh, a 408-foot drive to left by Richard Hidalgo. Wolf yielded five hits in seven innings, leaving with the 2-1 lead. Wayne Gomes finished with hitless relief for his first save.

San Diego 10, Montreal 5--Phil Nevin hit a three-run homer and Ryan Klesko added a two-run drive at Montreal to lead the Padres to their third win in a row.

Brian Meadows, making his first start for the Padres, led, 9-0, before he was removed during a four-run sixth.

Montreal third baseman Michael Barrett had two errors, giving him six this season. The Expos had five in all and have 12 in five games this season. Last year, Montreal led the major leagues with 160 errors.

San Francisco 6, Atlanta 2--Barry Bonds hit a two-run homer, one of three home runs off Terry Mulholland, and the Giants won at Atlanta.

Bonds, who also hit a home run in a 5-4 loss at Florida on Thursday, connected off Mulholland in the first inning after a one-out single by Bill Mueller. Bonds has seven homers in 49 career at-bats against the left-hander.

Florida 4, Colorado 3--Brad Penny, backed by Kevin Millar’s tiebreaking three-run triple, won in his major league debut at Miami.

Masato Yoshii, acquired from the New York Mets during the off-season, made his Colorado debut and led, 1-0, until the sixth when Luis Castillo and Alex Gonzalez walked, and Preston Wilson hit a game-tying, opposite-field double.

Pittsburgh 7, Arizona 2--First baseman Erubiel Durazo’s error opened the way for a six-run eighth inning at Phoenix as the Pirates snapped the Diamondbacks’ season-opening winning streak at three games.

Durazo’s inability to field a grounder allowed the tying run to score, then pinch-hitter Kevin Young singled in the go-ahead run, Wil Cordero doubled in two more, Warren Morris drove in one with a sacrifice fly, and Bruce Aven doubled home another.

Milwaukee 9, St. Louis 1--Jeromy Burnitz hit his third home run of the season and Jason Bere struck out eight in six innings to lead the Brewers at St. Louis.

Bere yielded five hits and two walks, handing the Cardinals their first loss in four games. St. Louis had scored 30 runs in its winning streak. Since losing to Arizona on Sept. 19, 1998, Bere has won eight consecutive decisions and is unbeaten in 17 starts.