Henderson’s Hitting Gives Padres a Lift

Missing most of spring training doesn’t appear to have hurt Rickey Henderson very much.

The 42-year-old outfielder was three for four with three runs scored and Ryan Klesko had three runs batted in Saturday to help the San Diego Padres to a 5-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Cincinnati.

“He’s doing everything right now,” Padre Manager Bruce Bochy said. “I think he’s found the fountain of youth.”

Henderson, who signed with the Padres as a minor league free agent in March, has a 10-game hitting streak. He tied Rogers Hornsby for 30th on the all-time list with 2,930 hits and raised his batting average to .286.

He singled in the first inning and scored on Phil Nevin’s double, singled in the third and scored on Ryan Klesko’s grounder and singled in the ninth and scored on Klesko’s two-run double.

“It’s really great to equal one of the great names in the game,” Henderson said. “It makes you feel good about yourself.”

Last week he moved past Babe Ruth to become the all-time walks leader. He needs to score 57 runs to pass Ty Cobb. And he would like to become the 25th player with 3,000 hits.

“That’s a great feeling just to have a chance to get to 3,000,” Henderson said.

Pittsburgh 11, Colorado 3--Aramis Ramirez drove in four runs with a pair of doubles for the Pirates at Pittsburgh.

Milwaukee 8, Florida 2--Mark Leiter gave up two runs in six innings and Jeromy Burnitz had a double and two RBIs to lead the Brewers at Miami.

Philadelphia 4, San Francisco 2--Scott Rolen’s RBI double drove in the go-ahead run and Randy Wolf struck out 10 in seven innings for the Phillies at Philadelphia.

Houston 4, Montreal 3--Shane Reynolds pitched seven strong innings and Lance Berkman’s two-run single keyed a four-run third inning for the Astros at Montreal.

New York 8, Arizona 1--Glendon Rusch scattered five hits over seven innings and drove in a run to lead the Mets at New York.

Atlanta 6, St. Louis 5--Bernard Gilkey and Rafael Furcal homered for the Braves against Rick Ankiel, who couldn’t hold a four-run lead at Atlanta.