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NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Braves Fashion 100 Reasons to Believe

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From Associated Press

The Atlanta Braves won their 100th game Sunday, but they still are not sure if they will be in the playoffs.

Jeff Blauser’s two-run single against Curt Schilling during a four-run seventh inning broke a tie as the Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-2, in a matchup of division leaders at Philadelphia.

The Braves kept their 1 1/2-game lead over San Francisco in the National League West as the Giants beat San Diego. The Phillies’ magic number for clinching the NL East title, however, was reduced to three as second-place Montreal lost at New York.

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With the score 2-2 and runners on second and third, Blauser said he was not sure if he would be intentionally walked to set up a double play. Ron Gant, who has 36 homers, was on deck with Fred McGriff and his 35 homers following him.

“As a hitter trying to get into a pitcher’s mind, I don’t want to pitch to guys with 30 home runs,” Blauser said. “But you never know.”

Blauser was two for 21 against Schilling (15-7) before his hit.

Brave Manager Bobby Cox thought 100 victories would be more than enough to win the division before the season.

“I thought in the low 90s would win it,” Cox said. “Cincinnati was a choice in the spring, but they had a lot of injuries. And San Diego traded off their their roster.”

Steve Avery (17-6) gave up two runs and four hits in six innings as the Braves improved to 27-7 this season when he starts. Greg McMichael, the third Atlanta pitcher, got the last three outs.

Schilling gave up five runs and six hits in six-plus innings and saw his seven-game winning streak end. Schilling had not lost since July 11.

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“When you put yourself in holes early in the game, it gets to you on a hot day,” Schilling said. “It was a sloppy game pitching-wise.”

David Justice hit his 38th homer for the Braves. Pete Incaviglia hit his 24th homer for the Phillies.

Pittsburgh 5-1, Chicago 1-0--Tim Wakefield pitched a five-hitter for his first victory as a starter since April 27 as the Pirates swept a doubleheader at Pittsburgh.

Jeff King’s three-run, tiebreaking double in the eighth helped the Pirates win the first game.

Wakefield (5-11) had not won a start since he pitched into the 11th inning to beat Atlanta. His last victory was a two-inning relief outing against Montreal on June 28. The knuckleballer had been 0-3 with a 7.63 earned-run average in three starts since returning from the minor leagues on Sept. 1.

Mike Morgan (10-14) fell to 3-10 lifetime against Pittsburgh despite giving up only four hits in seven innings. Al Martin had a run-scoring single in the first.

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First-game winner Paul Wagner (8-7) has given up only three earned runs in his last three starts, spanning 22 2/3 innings. He gave up five hits, walked one and struck out eight in eight innings.

New York 9, Montreal 3--Jeff Kent hit his first grand slam and drove in five runs at New York to lead the Mets.

Dave Telgheder (5-2) gave up five hits in eight innings. Mike Maddux got the last three outs.

Expo starter Ken Hill (9-7) lasted only 4 1/3 innings, giving up seven runs and nine hits.

Kent’s grand slam came during a six-run fifth when the Mets batted around to erase a 2-1 deficit. New York had four hits during the inning, including run-scoring singles by Eddie Murray and Jeromy Burnitz.

Kent, who has 20 homers, also had a run-scoring double in the seventh when the Mets scored twice to make the score 9-2.

St. Louis 10, Florida 7--Bernard Gilkey homered and drove in three runs to lift the Cardinals at Miami.

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Omar Olivares (5-2) gave up two runs and four hits in five-plus innings before Les Lancaster relieved with none out in the sixth.

The Marlins loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against Mike Perez, the fifth St. Louis reliever. After Bret Barberie struck out, Darrell Whitmore followed with a two-run single but Rich Renteria popped out to end the game.

Gilkey and Stan Royer each drove in three runs and Erik Pappas two as the Cardinals collected 15 hits.

St. Louis chased rookie starter David Weathers (2-2) in the third inning.

Gregg Jefferies had two doubles for the Cardinals and is batting .346.

Colorado 12, Cincinnati 7--Eric Young hit two homers and Andres Galarraga hit one as the Rockies, in their final home game, extended their major league attendance record to 4,483,350.

The crowd of 70,069 gave repeated standing ovations to Galarraga, who had three hits to raise his average to .379.

Galarraga hit his 22nd homer in the third inning against Larry Luebbers (2-5). Galarraga drove in three runs, giving him 97 for the season. The total breaks the previous record for a first-year expansion player of 94 set by Frank Thomas of the New York Mets in 1962.

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In the fifth, Young homered for the first time since the opening home game of the season. He had gone 462 at-bats between homers. Young homered again on his next at-bat in the seventh.

Armando Reynoso (12-10) pitched six innings for the victory.

Hal Morris hit a solo homer for the Reds.

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