ST. LOUIS — Rick Ankiel walked five and struck out six in five innings Saturday as the St. Louis Cardinals lost 7-4 to the Houston Astros, who got a pair of home runs from Chris Truby — both off Ankiel.
Ankiel (1-1) was pitching for the first time at Busch Stadium since he threw five wild pitches in one inning — the most since 1890 — in the NL division series last fall.
Scott Elarton (2-1) overcame early trouble, retiring 17 of 18 batters after allowing back-to-back home runs to Jim Edmonds and Bobby Bonilla with two out in the first. Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his fourth save.
REDS 1, METS 0: Cincinnati set the modern NL record by scoring in its 175th straight game as Chris Reitsma (2-0) allowed five hits in 7 1/3 innings.
The Reds, who broke a mark set by the 1992-93 Phillies, haven't been shut out since Oct. 4, 1999, when the Mets' Al Leiter did it in a one-game wild-card playoff.
Leiter (0-2), the only pitcher to shut out the Reds since May 1, 1999, allowed one run and six hits in eight innings Saturday.
CUBS 7, PIRATES 6: Pinch-hitter Gary Matthews Jr. hit a go-ahead single in a four-run eighth as Chicago won its fourth straight.
EXPOS 8, MARLINS 2: Vladimir Guerrero hit his first homer of the season and added an RBI double, and Britt Reames pitched six strong innings to lead Montreal over Florida.
Guerrero, who has 124 homers in the past three seasons, connected off Matt Clement (1-1) in the fifth in his 36th at-bat of the season.
PHILLIES 2, BRAVES 1: Omar Daal, baseball's losingest pitcher last season, allowed only one run in six innings and Pat Burrell hit a tie-breaking homer to lead Philadelphia over Atlanta.
BREWERS 11, GIANTS 6: Richie Sexson and Jeromy Burnitz hit back-to-back home runs to power Milwaukee past San Francisco.
ROCKIES 9, DIAMONDBACKS 8: Jeff Cirillo's two-run homer off Byung-Hyun Kim (0-1) broke a seventh-inning tie as Colorado wasted a 5-0 lead and fell behind 7-5 before rallying.
Cirillo had three RBIs, and Todd Helton went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs for the Rockies, who won for the second time in eight games.
PADRES 5, DODGERS 4: Pinch-hitter Alex Arias drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning with a sacrifice fly as San Diego beat Los Angeles.
Facing Gregg Olson (0-1), Arias lifted a fly ball down the right-field line. Shawn Green's throw was a two-hopper that catcher Paul LoDuca couldn't hold onto, allowing Mike Darr to score.