Piazza Slam Looks Grand at Toronto

Mike Piazza made time stand still in Toronto.

Piazza hit a grand slam, breaking a lightbulb on a SkyDome clock at Toronto, and the New York Mets beat the Blue Jays, 11-7, Tuesday night.

After Chris Carpenter (7-9) loaded the bases by walking Lenny Harris, Derek Bell and Edgardo Alfonzo in the fifth inning, Piazza crushed a ball over a restaurant in left-center field.

“The ball was still going up when it hit,” Manager Bobby Valentine said, somewhat in awe.

Piazza has four homers in his last five games and 27 this season. He tied a club record with his third slam of the season and has 12 in his career.

“I hit it pretty hard,” Piazza said. “I was just so relaxed and tension free. It was the only good swing I had all night.”

Toronto’s Shannon Stewart had four doubles.

Stewart went four for five for the Blue Jays, who had a season-high 11 extra-base hits, including eight doubles.

Carpenter, projected to be Toronto’s No. 2 starter, has given up 36 earned runs in his last 23 1/3 innings. The 25-year-old right-hander gave up seven runs on five hits, and six walks in four-plus innings.

“Sometimes he shows he wants to fight through it, and other times he just hangs his head,” Blue Jay Manager Jim Fregosi said. “I can understand a ball getting hit out of the park. It’s the walks that bother me.”

Carpenter, who underwent elbow surgery last September, said he’s healthy.

“I’m fine,” he said. “This is frustrating on Fregosi as it is for me. It’s frustrating because he’s seen me pitch well.”

Bobby J. Jones (4-4) gave up five runs on 10 hits, including seven doubles and nine extra-base hits in six innings.

Piazza’s grand slam generated a 7-3 lead, and consecutive doubles by Bell and Alfonzo in the sixth inning made it 8-4. Raul Mondesi’s 24th homer cut the lead to 8-5 in the seventh.

Colorado 18, Oakland 3--Jeffrey Hammonds, only a day removed from a root canal, celebrated a pain-free day with a home run and three hits in the Rockies’ victory at Denver.

Colorado had celebration of its own, pounding out 21 hits in winning for the second game in a row after losing 11 consecutive times. It was the Rockies’ second-largest victory margin in team history. They had a 19-2 win over Arizona on June 18.

Pedro Astacio (8-6) pitched seven strong innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and striking out eight, five in succession to tie the club record.

The A’s bullpen, exhausted after Oakland gave up 20 runs in a doubleheader on Monday, finally could go no further and shortstop Frank Menechino pitched the eighth inning. The Rockies scored six runs in that inning, three of them on Todd Walker’s home run.

San Francisco 5, Texas 3--Pinch-hitter Armando Rios’ two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Giants a victory over the Rangers at San Francisco.

The Giants, who did not have a runner until Ellis Burks doubled with one out in the fifth off Rick Helling, scored twice in the eighth to close to 3-2.

In the ninth, Burks singled with one out off closer John Wetteland (3-3) and Rich Aurilia single with two outs. Rios then hit a 2-0 pitch over the 404-foot sign in left-center field for his fifth home run of the season.

Aaron Fultz (3-1) pitched the ninth for the win.

Seattle 5, Arizona 2--Rickey Henderson hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the ninth inning and the Mariners at Phoenix. Seattle added another run when Byung-Hyun Kim walked John Olerud with the bases loaded.

Cleveland 8, Houston 2--Manny Ramirez, whose future in Cleveland could be determined in the time between now and the July 31 trade deadline, hit two two-run homers and drove in five runs for the Indians, who won at home.

Ramirez, eligible to become a free agent after the season, hit his 15th homer in the fifth inning off Shane Reynolds (6-7). Ramirez added another two-run shot in the sixth--his 1,000th hit--as the Indians won for Dave Burba (9-4) and improved to 5-1 since the All-Star break.

Atlanta 8, Tampa Bay 2--Chipper Jones hit his 24th homer and Greg Maddux scattered seven hits for the Braves, who won at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Maddux (12-3) struck out six and walked one. He retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced en route to his fourth complete game of the season and third consecutive victory since dropping consecutive decisions on June 24 and July 1.

Jones homered in the first inning to drive in two of the eight runs the Braves scored off Bryan Rekar (3-5), who also allowed two-run singles by Andruw Jones, Andres Galarraga and Reggie Sanders.

Minnesota 3, St. Louis 2--Matt Lawton singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning at Minneapolis, where the Twins were winners over Andy Benes (10-4), even though he pitched his first complete game of the season.

Cristian Guzman doubled and Jay Canizaro walked before Lawton’s hit. Guzman slid home just ahead of the throw from left fielder Shawon Dunston.

Brad Radke (7-10) gave up eight hits in eight innings. He struck out six and walked two in winning back-to-back starts for the first time since April 18-23.

Florida 7, Baltimore 0--Jesus Sanchez (6-7) pitched an eight-hitter in his first complete game, never allowing a runner past second base, and the Marlins beat Mike Mussina (6-9) at Baltimore.

Preston Wilson and Kevin Millar homered for Florida in a four-run eighth inning against Darren Holmes.

Mussina’s record belies his 3.82 earned-run average. The Orioles are averaging 3.2 runs in his 21 starts and 5.6 runs in their other 71 games.

Cincinnati 5, Detroit 4--Dmitri Young had three hits and two RBIs, one of them on a solo homer, and the Reds won at Detroit.

Elmer Dessens (2-0), making his third start of the season, gave up four runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings and was the beneficiary of a two-run sixth inning that gave him the victory.

Chicago 7, Milwaukee 5--Mike Sirotka struck out 10 and the White Sox took advantage of two errors at Chicago in their fourth consecutive victory.

Chris Singleton hit a two-run single in a four-run third inning in which the White Sox batted around. Greg Norton drove in two runs for Chicago.

Milwaukee lost its fourth game in a row.

Kansas City 12, Chicago 4--Johnny Damon had five hits--including a team-record four doubles--for the Royals, who won at home.

Damon’s third double was part of a five-run fifth inning that blew open a one-run game. The inning started with successive home runs by Mike Sweeney and Jermaine Dye.