LOPEZ BLASTS 4 HRS IN BRAVES ROMP
Atlanta Catcher Drives in 12
ST. LOUIS, Aug. 8 (AP) - Javy Lopez had the offensive game of a lifetime,
becoming the first major league player this season to hit four home runs in a
single contest as the Atlanta Braves pounded the St. Louis Cardinals, 15-5, at
Busch Stadium. Lopez also amassed a new major league season highs for runs
batted in with 12 and total bases with 16. The Braves catcher tied another
major league season high by scoring five runs.
The feat of hitting three home runs in a single game had been accomplished 13
times earlier this season, most recently by Reggie Sanders of Pittsburgh on July
29. Lopez's teammate, Rafael Furcal, accomplished the feat on July
26. Lopez essentially lapped the field in the RBI department. The
previous high mark was eight, set by Jose Guillen, then of the Cincinnati Reds,
on April 10. Lopez tied that mark when he hit third home run of the game,
in the eighth inning. At that point, it seemed unlikely that he would have
an opportunity to try for a fourth long ball.
The Braves set the tone for the game in the very first inning when Lopez went
deep for the first time. He came to the plate with Marcus Giles and Gary
Sheffield, both of whom had walked, on second and first respectively and pounded
a 3-2 offering from Cardinals starter Jeff Fassero into the bleachers in
left-center field for a 3-0 Atlanta lead.
The Cardinals got two of those runs back in the bottom of the second, on a solo
home run by Scott Rolen--the first of two homers Rolen would hit--and a
sacrifice fly off the bat of Mike Matheny.
But the Braves scored again in the third. Lopez drew a lead-off walk and
advanced to second when Julio Franco drew a free pass of his own. After
Vinny Castilla flied out, Darren Bragg singled to right, scoring Lopez.
In the fourth, the Braves drove Fassero from the game. Giles led off with
a walk--the eighth and final walk issued by Fassero, who looked out of sorts
during his entire stint on the mound--and Sheffield followed with his 21st home
run of the season for a 6-2 Atlanta lead. Fassero was replaced by Estaban
Yan, but he surrendered a single to Andruw Jones and then yielded Lopez's second
home run of the day, again on a 3-2 pitch.
St. Louis cut the deficit to 8-3 when Edgar Renteria led off with a double and
later scored on pinch hitter Orlando Palmeiro's RBI single.
The Cardinals appeared poised to make a real game of things in the
seventh. Reliever Jason Marquis retired Tino Martinez on a ground ball,
but surrendered Rolen's second home run of the contest to make the score
8-4. Renteria followed with a single, J.D. Drew walked and Matheny singled
to left, scoring Renteria and advancing Drew to second. It was now 8-5 and
the tying run was coming to the plate in the form of pinch hitter Eduardo
Perez. Marquis departed and was replaced by Will Cunnane and he induced a
double play ball from Perez to end the inning.
In the eighth, the Braves firmly regained control. New reliever Cal Eldred
walked Sheffield--the fourth of five unintentional walks he would draw, tying a
major league season high mark for a nine-inning game. That brought Lopez
to the plate and he deposited Yan's 2-1 fastball into the seats in straight away
left for an 11-5 lead.
The Atlanta lead was still six runs entering the ninth and St. Louis manager
Tony LaRussa elected to allow Eldred to finish off the game rather than burn
another pitcher. That decision was key to getting Lopez back up to the
plate. It started simply enough as Robert Fick and Mark DeRosa both were
retired on fly balls to right field. But Giles doubled to center and
Sheffield drew his fifth walk of the game. Then Jones walked as well,
loading the bases for Lopez. What was left of the sellout crowd rose, well
aware of the moment. Eldred was clearly running out of gas but LaRussa
judged the game over at this point and was loathe to call again upon an already
weary bullpen. On a 1-1 count, Lopez lifted a majestic fly ball down the
left field line that stayed fair by perhaps 15 feet and landed 10 rows into the
seats for a grand slam, a 15-5 lead, and a cap to the most memorable game of his
career.
St. Louis pitchers walked 13 Atlanta batters, one away from tying the NL record
for the season. Milwaukee hurlers issued 14 free passes in a 13-7 loss to
the Cardinals on June 18.
Braves starter Russ Ortiz wasn't particularly sharp, but he didn't have to be
and was credited with his 16th win of the year, tops in the National
League. It was Atlanta's third consecutive win and the team's 81st on the
season, most in the major leagues.
The loss dropped the Cardinals into a flat-footed tie with the Houston Astros
for the lead in the NL Central.
8/8/2003, Atl03-StL03, Busch Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Braves 3 0 1 4 0 0 0 3 4 15 12 0 9 1 2003 Cardinals 0 2 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 5 15 0 14 1 Braves AB R H BI AVG Cardinals AB R H BI AVG DeRosa ss 6 0 2 0 .272 Hart 2b 4 0 0 0 .249 Giles,M 2b 4 3 2 0 .341 Edmonds cf 5 0 1 0 .274 Sheffield rf 1 4 1 2 .312 Pujols lf 4 0 1 0 .379 Jones,A cf 5 3 2 0 .276 Martinez,T 1b 5 0 3 0 .240 Lopez,JT c 5 5 4 12 .324 Rolen 3b 4 2 3 2 .281 Franco,Ju 1b 2 0 0 0 .338 Renteria ss 5 3 3 0 .305 Marquis p 0 0 0 0 .000 Drew,J rf 3 0 0 0 .245 Gryboski p 1 0 0 0 .000 Matheny c 4 0 1 2 .246 Cunnane p 1 0 0 0 .000 Fassero p 1 0 0 0 .125 Castilla 3b 4 0 0 0 .260 Yan p 0 0 0 0 .000 Bragg lf 4 0 1 1 .303 Palmeiro,O ph 1 0 1 1 .307 Ortiz,Ru p 3 0 0 0 .280 Simontacchi p 0 0 0 0 .057 Fick 1b 2 0 0 0 .299 Robinson ph 1 0 1 0 .241 38 15 12 15 Borbon p 0 0 0 0 .000 Perez,EA ph 1 0 0 0 .268 Eldred p 0 0 0 0 .000 Cairo ph 1 0 1 0 .232 39 5 15 5 Braves INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Ortiz,Ru W 16-2 5.1 9 3 3 4 2 99 56 3.18 Marquis H 1 1.0 3 2 2 1 1 25 14 4.15 Gryboski H 9 1.1 2 0 0 1 1 25 14 4.67 Cunnane 1.1 1 0 0 0 3 22 14 0.00 9.0 15 5 5 6 7 171 98 Cardinals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Fassero L 3-1 3.0 4 6 6 8 3 99 49 5.50 Yan 1.0 2 2 2 1 1 32 18 6.25 Simontacchi 2.0 1 0 0 1 1 21 12 5.19 Borbon 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 18 12 9.00 Eldred 2.0 4 7 7 3 1 56 30 5.04 9.0 12 15 15 13 7 226 121 Atl: Fick inserted at 1b in the 6th StL: Palmeiro,O batted for Yan in the 4th Robinson batted for Simontacchi in the 6th Perez,EA batted for Borbon in the 7th Cairo batted for Eldred in the 9th 2B-DeRosa(12), Giles,M(33), Pujols(33), Renteria 2(27), Cairo(8). HR-Sheffield(21), Lopez,JT 4(28), Rolen 2(18). RBI-Sheffield 2(73), Lopez,JT 12(83), Bragg(14), Rolen 2(94), Matheny 2(45), Palmeiro,O(18). SB-Giles,M(10). CS-Hart. K-Jones,A, Franco,Ju 2, Bragg, Ortiz,Ru, Fick, Gryboski, Hart 2, Edmonds 2, Pujols, Drew,J, Matheny. BB-Giles,M 2, Sheffield 5, Jones,A, Lopez,JT, Franco,Ju 2, Castilla, Bragg, Hart 2, Pujols, Rolen, Drew,J 2. SF-Matheny. WP-Fassero. GWRBI: Lopez,JT Temperature: 86, Sky: clear, Wind: out to center at 8 MPH. Attendance: 49,275 Game Time: 4:04