The Associated Press

DENVER – Colorado lost its 10th straight game Saturday as Dante Bichette and Pokey Reese homered to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a fight-marred, 7-4 victory over the frustrated Rockies.

Saturday, July 15, 2000

DENVER – Colorado lost its 10th straight game Saturday as Dante Bichette and Pokey Reese homered to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a fight-marred, 7-4 victory over the frustrated Rockies.

Scott Williamson (3-6), making just his second major league start, pitched a career-high six innings for Cincinnati, which swept the three-game series by a combined score of 31-10.

The losing streak is the second-longest in Colorado history. The Rockies lost 13 straight during their inaugural 1993 season. They also lost nine in a row last year.

The game included a bench-clearing brawl in the seventh when Reds reliever Scott Sullivan hit Brian Hunter in the shoulder minutes after Ken Griffey Jr. was plunked in the thigh by Stan Belinda.

The scuffle dated to Thursday night when Griffey was hit in the back and Colorado star Larry Walker was hit three innings later. Walker played peacemaker Saturday by restraining Griffey and Sean Casey.

The fighting lasted less than two minutes and Sullivan, Hunter, Colorado first baseman Todd Helton and Rockies manager Buddy Bell were ejected.

Cincinnati manager Jack McKeon motioned for his players to leave the field while the umpires sorted out the mess, but the Reds never made it to the dugout before returning.

Cincinnati, the only team to sweep a series at Coors Field this season, broke a 3-3 tie against Masato Yoshii (4-10) in the sixth on RBI singles by Michael Tucker and Benito Santiago.

Bichette, who spent seven seasons with Colorado, added a two-run homer off Stan Belinda – one of players he was traded for last winter – in the seventh.

The output was enough to give Williamson his first career victory as a starter. He pitched a gave up three runs and five hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

Danny Graves got his 15th save. Jeff Cirillo homered in the Rockies ninth.

Chris Stynes went 3-for-5 for the Reds and finished the series 8-for-13 with six runs. His career average at Coors Field rose to .531 (34-for-64).

After falling behind 1-0 in the third, Colorado took its first lead of the series in their half on an RBI double by Cirillo and a run-scoring single by Walker.

Cincinnati recaptured the lead in the fifth on Reese’s solo homer and back-to-back two-out doubles by Stynes and Barry Larkin. The Rockies tied it at 3 in their half on a sacrifice fly by Jeffrey Hammonds.

Notes:

A lineup shakeup did little to jump-start Colorado’s offense. Cirillo moved from cleanup to second, and Hammonds moving from sixth to fourth. … Griffey had reached in five straight plate appearances before fouling out in the first. … Williamson threw his 14th wild pitch of the season, tying him for the major league lead. The Cincinnati record is 19 by Jim Maloney in 1963. … Walker needs one more hit for 1,500 in his career.