Maddux Gets Closer to Victory Milestone

Greg Maddux didn’t think his previous start was that bad, and he wasn’t convinced this one was anything special.

The numbers told a different story.

Maddux rebounded from one of the worst starts of his career, giving up four hits in seven innings to help the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1, Tuesday night at Atlanta.

Maddux (14-6), pitching on three days’ rest, moved within one victory of joining Cy Young as the only pitchers to win 15 games or more in 15 consecutive seasons. Maddux is scheduled to make two more starts.

“If we hadn’t clinched already, it would be very important,” he said. “Obviously, I want to win. When there’s so much at stake for your team, who cares, really--other than me?”

In his previous game, Maddux gave up seven runs and seven hits in two innings against the Florida Marlins, including a career-high six runs in the first inning. He threw only 41 pitches in that game, enabling him to move up in the rotation.

“I didn’t think I pitched too bad the last time,” Maddux said. “I pretty much threw the same pitches tonight, they just hit them at somebody. Defensively, we had a very good game.”

San Diego 3, Arizona 2--Adam Eaton combined with three relievers on a four-hitter in his best start since elbow surgery in August 2001 to lead host San Diego.

Eaton (1-1), inconsistent in his first three starts, prevented the defending World Series champions from moving closer to their second consecutive NL West title.

Arizona’s magic number to clinch its third division title in four seasons remained at six.

St. Louis 11, Colorado 4--Tino Martinez hit a grand slam, the 10th of his career, capping a seven-run outburst in the eighth inning at Denver.

The Cardinals reduced their magic number for clinching the NL Central to five. St. Louis leads second-place Houston by 7 1/2 games.

Milwaukee 5, Houston 4--Ben Sheets (10-16) beat the Astros for the third time this season, giving up six hits and striking out seven in eight innings at Milwaukee.

Time is running out for the Astros, who have 11 games to play, to catch first-place St. Louis in the NL Central.

New York 3, Chicago 1--Jeromy Burnitz hit a two-run homer against Juan Cruz (2-11) in the ninth and the Mets won their fourth in a row at New York.

Sammy Sosa hit the 497th homer of his career and 47th this season.

Pittsburgh 11, Cincinnati 3--Pokey Reese had a career-high five runs batted in at Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati made five errors to give the Pirates nine unearned runs.

The third-place Reds, who led the NL Central for 57 days, were mathematically eliminated from postseason contention.

Montreal 8, Florida 5--Jamey Carroll hit a tiebreaking single and Jose Vidro followed with a three-run homer in the 14th inning at Miami.

The announced crowd was 4,836, but there were only about 100 people left in the stands when the 4-hour 39-minute game ended at 11:47 p.m.

Kevin Millar extended his hitting streak to 23 games with a first-inning single for the Marlins.