4B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
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MLB
'Rookies' over Braves, 10-5
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2005
Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Dan Kolb walks back to the mound after giving up a run in the ninth inning of the Colorado Rockies' 10-5 victory Wednesday in Atlanta. Kolb allowed four runs on six hits in the ninth.
(John Bazemore/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Fourteen first-years start game
ATLANTA — On a night when a lot of rookies were on display, Colorado first-year shortstop Clint Barmes had the biggest hit, driving in the
Fourteen rookies started for the Brayes
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
and Rockies, including both teams' starting pitchers. It was the most rookies to start a major league game since Sept. 24, 2003, when 14 started for Cleveland and Minnesota.
Davies was a fill-in starter for John Smoltz, who is resting a stiff right shoulder the last week of the regular season.
Jeff Francis (14-12) gave up seven hits and four runs, three earned, in five innings for Colorado.
Kyle Davies (7-5) gave up seven hits and five runs, two earned, in 5 2-3 innings for the Braves.
One day after clinching the NL East title, the Braves' lineup included seven rookies and only two regular starters first baseman Julio Franco and Ryan Langerhans, who played center field instead of his normal spot in left.
It was the most rookies to start a major league game since Sept. 24,2003,when 14 started for Cleveland and Minnesota.
Colorado's only veteran starters were first baseman Todd Helton and left fielder Matt Holliday, a second-year player.
The 48-year-old Franco and 38-year-old Brian Jordan, who started in right field, stood out in the otherwise young lineup.
One of the Braves' rookies, catcher Brayan Pena, led off the second inning with a double and moved to third on Wilson Betemit's single to center. Langerhans' single to right drove in Pena, and Davies drove in Betemit with a fly ball for a 2-0 lead.
ing double to left-center, and he scored on Garrett Atkins' single up the middle for a 2-2 tie.
With two outs in the third, Helton struck out on a wild pitch but was safe at first as the pitch bounced past Pena.
Holliday followed with a run-scor
A throwing error by Rockies catcher Danny Ardoin helped the Braves take a 4-2 lead in the fifth.
Three straight hits by Davies, Pete Orr and Jordan loaded the bases.
On Andy Marte's grounder to third, Atkins' throw to the plate forced Davies, but Ardoin slipped while throwing to first and threw wildly into right field for an error, allowing two runs to score.
Barmes greeted reliever Anthony Lerew with a bloop two-run double to right for a 5-4 lead.
The Rockies scored three runs in the sixth, knocking Davies out of the game. Pinch-hitter Todd Greene's double drove in the first run.
Freeman, a pinch runner for Greene.
The double, which landed just fair in shallow right field, drove in Ardoin, who was hit by a pitch, and Choo
Making his major league debut, left-hander Chuck James walked Helton, threw a wild pitch and gave up a run-scoring single to Holliday, giving the Rockies a 6-4 lead in the seventh.
James gave up one run in two innings.
The Rockies had four runs and six hits in the ninth off reliever Dan Kolb.
Holliday's third-inning RBI double gave him 29 in September, a team record for the month.
Notes: Langerhans has a seven-game hitting streak and
His RBI single in the seventh pushed the total to 30. Dante Bichette drove in 28 runs in September 1995.
Holliday leads the NL in RBIs this month, and has 59 since the All-Star break.
James became Atlanta's 18th rookie to appear in a game this season.
MLB
BY R.B. FALLSTROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Astros still in lead of wild-card race
ST.LOUIS — Morgan Enberg had a tie-breaking double in the ninth inning, his fourth hit of the game, and the Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-6 Wednesday night to maintain a 2 1/2-game lead over Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race.
With the score 6-6, Willy Taveras led off the ninth with his major league-leading 69th in-field hit and scored without a play on Ensberg's double into the left-field corner off Jason Isringhausen (1-2).
Houston swept a two-game series against the NL Central champions, finishing the season 5-11 against St. Louis, and will close the regular season with a four-game series at home against the Cubs that starts today.
Lance Berkman and Mike Lamb homered for the Astros, who at 87-71 are a seasonbest 16 games above .500.
Chad Qualls (6-4) worked a perfect eighth, and Brad Lidge finished for his 40th save in 43 chances.
Reggie Sanders hit his first home runs since early July, connecting on consecutive at-bats for the Cardinals, who got another spotty outing from 21-game winner Chris Carpenter.
The Cardinals are 3-8 since clinching the division and must sweep a season-ending series at home against the Reds to give the franchise consecutive 100-win seasons for the second time, the first since 1942 to 1944.
Carpenter was shaky from the start, giving up a line-drive
Carpenter has failed in four attempts at getting his 22nd win while reaching a careerhigh 241 2-3 innings.
single to Craig Biggio on his first pitch. In all, he allowed six runs — five earned — and nine hits in six innings.
Carpenter is 0-1 with a 9.14 ERA since throwing seven scoreless innings against the Mets Sept. 8, hiking his overall ERA from 2.21 to 2.83.
Against the Astros he was better with the bat, hitting his first two career doubles and scoring twice.
Houston took a 4-2 lead against Carpenter in the fifth on consecutive home runs by Berkman and Lamb, the first leaving the frustrated pitcher barking into his glove at himself.
A four-run fifth highlighted by Sanders' second homer and 20th overall, a two-run shot off Scott Strickland, put the Cardinals ahead 6-4.
Carpenter's second double of the game started a rally that included an RBI single by Jim Edmonds and a sacrifice fly by Larry Walker.
Carpenter, who won 13 straight games from June 14 to Sept. 8, couldn't hold a lead for the second straight outing, surrendering a sacrifice fly to Biggio and a tying single by Taveras in the sixth.
Notes: Carpenter finished 12-1 with a 2.75 ERA against the NL Central.
A crowd of 40,616 was the Cardinals' 39th straight of 40,000 or more.
The final weekend, a three-game series against the Reds, is a sellout.
Sanders has 26 multi-homer games, including two this year.
Carpenter was a career .067 hitter and was batting .400 this year (3-for-75) before doubling and scoring in both of his at-bats.
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