Tulowitzki Turns Unassisted Triple Play

Monday, April 30th 2007, 7:28 am

By: News On 6

Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki was amazed by his good fortune. The Los Angeles Dodgers were just happy to emerge from the longest game in the major leagues this season with a win.

Tulowitzki turned an unassisted triple play, and the Rockies beat the Atlanta Braves 9-7 Sunday on Matt Holliday's two-run homer in the 11th inning.

``It's amazing,'' Tulowitzki said. ``It kind of just fell in my lap.''

Brady Clark hit a go-ahead double in the 17th inning to help Los Angeles beat the San Diego Padres 5-4 in the longest game in Petco Park's four-year history.

Pittsburgh beat Houston 4-3 in 16 innings Wednesday in the majors' longest game before Sunday. The Pirates' win lasted 4 hours, 48 minutes and the Dodgers-Padres game took 4:55.

Several parks across the majors had a moment of silence for St. Louis reliever Josh Hancock, who died early Sunday when his sport utility vehicle slammed into the back of a tow truck. The Cardinals' game against the Chicago Cubs was postponed.

In other NL games, it was: Arizona 5, San Francisco 4; Philadelphia 6, Florida 1; New York Mets 1, Washington 0; Milwaukee 3, Houston 1; and Cincinnati 9, Pittsburgh 5.

At Coors Field, Kelly Johnson and Edgar Renteria singled for the Braves in the seventh inning and were running on a 3-2 pitch when Tulowitzki caught Chipper Jones' line drive behind second base. The rookie stepped on the bag to double up Johnson and then tagged Renteria for the third out.

Apparently unsure if he had completed the play properly, Tulowitzki went back and touched second base again, then threw to first. Nothing to worry about _ the inning was already over.

It was the 13th unassisted triple play in major league history and first since shortstop Rafael Furcal did it for Atlanta on Sept. 10, 2003, against St. Louis.

Tulowitzki also turned the second triple play in the Rockies' 13-year history. The first happened April 10, 2003, against the Cardinals.

Philadelphia turned the only other triple play in the majors this season against Cincinnati on April 21.

Steve Colyer (0-1) got the loss for the Braves. Denny Bautista (1-0) worked a scoreless 11th for the win.

At San Diego, Clark's double into the left-field corner off rookie Justin Hampson (0-1) scored Wilson Valdez from first base with an unearned run.

``It was just one of those games,'' Clark said. ``It's huge to get that win right there. You play a game that long, if you don't win it, you'd have some miserable people.''

Valdez reached on a bunt when Pete Laforest, a third-string catcher who was playing first base, committed an error by letting a throw from catcher Rob Bowen hit off the top of his glove.

Chad Billingsley (2-0) pitched two innings for the win.

``You get a game going along like that one was, it says a lot for both teams' bullpens,'' Dodgers manager Grady Little said. ``Those runs are hard to come by out there when you get those guys throwing like they were throwing.''

Diamondbacks 5, Giants 4

At Phoenix, Orlando Hudson hit a tiebreaking, two-run double in the seventh inning and Arizona beat San Francisco for its fifth straight victory.

Hudson had three RBIs and Brandon Medders (1-0) earned the win with a scoreless seventh. Brandon Lyon escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam for his first save.

Randy Johnson, making his second start since October back surgery, allowed three runs _ two earned _ and seven hits in six innings for the Diamondbacks.

Arizona lost five in a row before the winning streak. The Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep of San Francisco one week after the Giants swept them at home. The Giants had won eight straight entering the series.

Matt Morris (3-1) gave up 12 hits and five runs in seven innings for San Francisco.

Phillies 6, Marlins 1

Jamie Moyer took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and combined with two relievers for a four-hitter in Philadelphia's win over Florida.

Moyer had faced the minimum 20 batters when Miguel Cabrera broke up the no-hitter with a two-out double in the seventh.

The 44-year-old Moyer (3-1) allowed two hits, struck out five and walked two in 7 1-3 shutout innings. He also went 2-for-3 with a double.

The Phillies have won seven of nine.

Wes Obermueller (1-1) gave up three runs and five hits in 5 2-3 innings for the visiting Marlins.

Mets 1, Nationals 0

At Washington, John Maine pitched seven sharp innings and Carlos Beltran homered for one of New York's three hits against the Nationals.

Maine (4-0) struck out a career-high eight and allowed three hits in lowering his ERA to 1.35.

Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis and Billy Wagner finished the six-hitter. Schoeneweis got out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the eighth by getting Ryan Church to ground out to first, and Wagner pitched the ninth for his fourth save in four chances.

Beltran's fifth homer came off Washington starter Jason Bergmann (0-2) in the sixth.

Brewers 3, Astros 1

Geoff Jenkins homered and Claudio Vargas pitched out of bases-loaded jams in three straight innings to lead Milwaukee past Houston.

Tony Graffanino and J.J. Hardy also drove in runs for the Brewers, who won a three-game series in Houston for the first time since 1997, when the Astros still played in the Astrodome.

Vargas (2-0) gave up four hits and five walks in five shutout innings, toughening up whenever the Astros threatened to score. Francisco Cordero shut out Houston in the ninth for his 10th save in 10 chances. The Brewers have won eight of 11.

Woody Williams (0-4) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings for the Astros, who have lost eight of nine.

Reds 9, Pirates 5

Edwin Encarnacion's bases-loaded triple keyed Cincinnati's comeback from an early three-run deficit, and Aaron Harang settled down to maintain his dominance of Pittsburgh.

Adam Dunn added a two-run homer and Brandon Phillips drove in two runs for the visiting Reds, who won the final two games of the series.

Harang (4-0) benefited from the offensive support, even contributing a run-scoring single in a five-run fourth that turned a 4-1 Reds deficit into a 6-4 lead. The big inning came against Paul Maholm (1-3), who was coming off a three-hit shutout of Houston.