Mets blast Rockies 13-2

NEW YORK (AP) -- Mike Hampton impressed the Colorado Rockies in a brief outing.

Hampton was forced out of the game after 40 pitches with a 5-0 lead with what could be the recurrence of an old football injury. How long he will remain sidelined is uncertain.

"It was a really smart move on his part to come out, not to push it to get a win just because they had a cushion," Rockies infielder Terry Shumpert said after Hampton helped the New York Mets beat the Rockies 13-2 Thursday.

Hampton left the game with pain on his right side after batting in the third inning and then issuing a walk to Todd Helton to open the fourth.

Postgame X-rays indicated a small stress fracture in his rib cage.

"I cringed when I saw him come out, that's for sure," Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. "We are optimistic that he will be OK."

New York drew within 2 1/2 games of idle Atlanta, the NL East leader.

"You don't ever want to turn a game over (to the bullpen) that soon, but I had no choice," said Hampton who left after allowing two hits and striking out four in three innings.

Reliever Turk Wendell (5-4) pitched four innings for the win, backed by homers from Todd Zeile, Benny Agbayani, Robin Ventura and Mike Bordick.

Officially, Hampton is listed as day-to-day by the Mets.

"I have a thought where it might have been in high school, when I had to come out of a football game early, but that was 10 years ago," Hampton said.

Wendell struck out a career-high six in his longest appearance since September 1997. He allowed two runs -- one earned -- and one hit.

"Today was just a fun day," said Wendell, who singled, one of the Mets' 15 hits. "I'm just sorry that it came about this way. I know Mike is hurting a little bit."

Wendell frustrated the Rockies with his emergency performance.

"With Hampton out, we thought we had a pretty good chance, then he (Wendell) comes in and what did he strike out, six? He probably pitched longer than he's ever pitched. He threw the ball well," said Helton who was 1-for-1 with a walk to raise his major league-leading batting average to .396.

Ventura, Zeile and Bordick each had three RBIs for the Mets.

Masato Yoshii (5-13), the Rockies starter, allowed nine runs, 10 hits and five walks in five innings.

Ventura's sacrifice fly and Zeile's RBI single put the Mets ahead 2-0 in the first, and New York added three runs in the third on sacrifice flies by Ventura and Agbayani and Bordick's RBI single.

New York made it 9-0 in the fifth. Zeile hit a two-run homer, Agbayani followed with his 10th homer and Yoshii threw a wild pitch with a runner on third.

Ventura homered in the sixth off Bobby Chouinard, and Bordick hit a two-run homer in the seventh off Craig House. Bubba Trammell added an RBI double.

Colorado scored twice in the seventh when Todd Hollingsworth hit an RBI double and came home on throwing errors by second baseman Kurt Abbott and Wendell.

Giants 5, Expos 4

Barry Bonds hit his 36th homer and Bobby Estalella hit a three-run homer as San Francisco won at Montreal, the Giants' fourth straight victory.

Shawn Estes (12-3) won his seventh straight decision, allowing three runs and five hits in 7 1-3 innings. The Giants lead second-place Arizona by 1 1/2 games in the NL West.

Expos starter Trey Moore (1-3) gave up all five San Francisco runs and eight hits in 4 2-3 innings. Felix Rodriguez relieved with one out in the ninth and a runner on third, retiring Michael Barrett on a groundout and striking out Terry Jones for his third save.