Bell hits for cycle as Phillies hammer Montreal
PHILADELPHIA - The art of hitting for the cycle skipped a generation in the Bell family.
David Bell hit for the cycle and drove in a career-high six runs, powering the Philadelphia Phillies to a 14-6 victory Monday night over the Montreal Expos.
Bell doubled in the second inning, homered in the fourth, singled in the sixth and hit a disputed triple in the seventh to complete the feat also accomplished by his grandfather, Gus, who did it for Pittsburgh on June 4, 1951.
But the cycle eluded David's father, Buddy, the Cleveland Indians' bench coach who played 18 seasons in the majors.
When asked if he planned to call his father to playfully mock him, David said: "Yeah. Yeah, I will." Then he added, "It's special because it just doesn't happen."
With three legs of the cycle behind him, Bell drove a 2-2 pitch off Rocky Biddle to left-center that appeared to deflect off the outreached hands of a fan in the first row. The ball caromed toward center field and away from Montreal's Brad Wilkerson.
Bell went into third base and received a standing ovation from the crowd. But Wilkerson and Montreal manager Frank Robinson protested the call for several minutes. The umpires convened and allowed the three-base hit to stand.
"The second-base ump (Jerry Meals) said he thought it hit a fan, but wasn't sure," an unhappy Robinson said. "(But) the ump at third (Jack Samuels) said, 'My call.'"
It was Bell's first triple of the season and first since joining the Phillies before last year.
"I don't hit many triples," Bell said. "But when it hits off that wall out there, triples can happen quite a bit here."
Bell became the third major leaguer to hit for the cycle this season. Milwaukee's Chad Moeller did it April 27, and Daryle Ward of the Pittsburgh Pirates became the second on May 27.
Despite the rarity and prestige of the accomplishment, Bell said he was oblivious to his opportunity until he stood on third.
"If I had hit a triple earlier in the game, I would have been aware of it, but I just hadn't thought of it for some reason," he said.
Pat Burrell homered, scored three runs and drove in three, and Bobby Abreu went 3-for-3 with two doubles and a pair of walks to reach base in all five plate appearances.
Kevin Millwood (6-5) won despite allowing three homers. He gave up five runs and five hits over six innings, but struck out a season-high nine.
Millwood improved to 10-0 in his last 11 starts against Montreal. His last loss to the Expos was August 28, 2001, with Atlanta.
Burrell knocked in the Phillies' first run with a homer in the second. It was his second in as many days and 14th of the season.
"Baseball's a funny game," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "You have to pick each other up. Like tonight, Pat picked everybody up and they started walking tall. You have to do that as a team."
With Philadelphia trailing 3-2 in the fourth, Expos starter Sun-Woo Kim (3-4) intentionally walked Jim Thome to load the bases with two outs for Burrell, who ripped a grounder up the middle, scoring Placido Polanco and Abreu.
Bell then smacked a hanging curveball from reliever T.J. Tucker to left for his ninth homer.
Bell drove in another run with a bases-loaded single in a five-run sixth. A sacrifice fly by Mike Lieberthal and Chase Utley's three-run homer made it 12-5.
In 3 2-3 innings, Kim gave up six runs and walked a season-high five batters in losing his fourth straight decision.
Wilkerson, Termel Sledge and Tony Batista homered off Millwood.
Montreal's Jose Vidro singled in the third to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and homered in the eighth.
At Phoenix, Brian Giles and Humberto Quintero homered to help David Wells (3-5) win for the first time in almost two months.Mark Loretta had four of San Diego's season high-tying 17 hits, and the Padres sent the Diamondbacks to their franchise-record 10th straight loss - longest in the majors this season.Shane Reynolds (0-1) allowed six runs on six hits in two innings.
At Atlanta, John Thomson (6-6) won for the first time in nearly a month and J.D. Drew homered to help the Braves beat the Marlins in a game delayed almost 31/2 hours by rain before the start.Brad Penny (7-6) gave up five runs on nine hits in five innings for Florida, which dropped into a first-place tie in the NL East with Philadelphia.
