In the rush to judge Hideo Nomo, some observers were eager to put the rookie on the same pedestal as Sandy Koufax. Nomo would have none of it.
The right-hander fanned 13 Colorado Rockies on Thursday night, giving him 50 strikeouts in his last four games. That broke the club record set by Koufax, who did it three times for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the last 30 years ago.Nomo, who allowed six hits, improved his NL-leading strikeout total to 109.
"I'm really happy and honored to be compared to Koufax, but there's a gap of experience in 10 years (in the majors) and a half-year, so I'm not really concentrating on breaking a record," he said.
Nomo earned his second straight shutout and sixth consecutive victory as the Dodgers beat the Rockies 3-0, overtaking Colorado for first place in the National League West by a half-game.
In other NL games on Thursday it was Cincinnati 10, Philadelphia 4 and St. Louis 6, Chicago 4.
Nomo (6-1) gained revenge against a team that chased him to his worst performance of the season at Denver on May 7. The Dodgers won 12-10, but he gave up nine hits and seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings.
"The best thing is for the team to win," he said. "For me to win, the best way is to keep the opponents' score at zero."
Nomo fanned NL home run leader Larry Walker in his first three at-bats. Leadoff hitter Mike Kingery had three of the hits off the right-hander, who walked one and gave up one hit over the final 5 2/3 innings before a near sellout crowd of 46,295.
"It just shows that he's got the talent to pitch in the major leagues. There's no secret. He's just throwing strikes, he's getting ahead of guys, he's keeping his split-finger (fastball) down," said catcher Mike Piazza, who was 3-for-4 with a double and his 13th home run of the season.
The Rockies loaded the bases with no outs for the second time in the eighth. Kingery singled, Joe Girardi reached on an error by shortstop Jose Offerman and Walker was hit by a pitch. But cleanup hitter Andres Galarraga hit a tapper to Nomo for a 1-2-3 double play and Dante Bichette lined out to Offerman.
"I was thinking about getting one out without giving up any runs," Nomo said.
Nomo also pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth. He fell behind opposing pitcher Marvin Freeman 3-0 before getting him to chase a high fastball to end the threat.
"It's tough to take it sometimes because the ball looks like it's coming down the middle and then it goes down pretty quick," Galarraga said. "That guy's a tough pitcher to hit. It's hard to read sometimes."
Freeman (2-6) went six innings, giving up nine hits and two earned runs. He hasn't won in nearly a month, dropping six starts since a 7-3 victory over St. Louis on June 7.
Billy Ashley's RBI double off the glove of diving left fielder Bichette scored Roberto Kelly to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the second. Kelly singled, stole second and took third on a one-out grounder.
Offerman scored from third on a sacrifice fly by Eric Karros in the third after Piazza doubled to left.
Piazza led off the seventh with a homer off reliever Steve Reed, giving Los Angeles a 3-0 lead. It was Piazza's fourth homer this season against the Rockies, including a grand slam in Nomo's other start against them.
Reds 10, Phillies 4
The Reds swept the three-game series and tied the Phillies for the best record in the majors at 37-21.
Eric Anthony went 4-for-5, drove in two runs and scored three times for the Reds, who had 14 hits, including Ron Gant's two-run homer.
Pete Schourek (6-4) allowed six hits and four runs over 5 2/3 innings and drove in two runs. The Reds scored six runs in the first off Paul Quantrill (7-3). Anthony's leadoff homer in the fifth made it 10-0.
The Phillies scored four in the sixth, including Mickey Morandini's two-run homer.
Cardinals 6, Cubs 4
Ramon Caraballo hit his first major-league homer and Ken Hill earned his first victory in six starts as the Cardinals ended a five-game losing streak.
Hill (5-4) last won May 30 against Colorado. He allowed two runs on eight hits. Kevin Foster (5-5) gave up five hits and three earned runs in 51/3 innings.
Caraballo's solo homer gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the sixth and they added two more in the inning on Ray Lankford's RBI double and a throwing error by catcher Scott Servais, who was acquired from Houston on Wednesday.