NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Maddux Only a Little Out of Control, 3-2

It was an off night for Greg Maddux.

He won, of course, but he walked a batter--only the 13th in his last 23 starts, dating back to July 8, 1994--and he went to a three-ball count on eight more Wednesday.

Still, the Pittsburgh Pirates were impressed after losing, 3-2, to the Braves in Atlanta.

“I wouldn’t call it spoiling his party, since he won the game,” Orlando Merced said of his two-run homer that accounted for the Pirate runs and ended Maddux’s night with two outs in the eighth inning. The homer scored Jason Brumfield, the only Pirate Maddux walked.

“He’s the best in the league,” Merced said. “It’s tough to beat him. He knows how to pitch.”

Add Pirate Manager Jim Leyland to the Maddux Admiration Society.

“Maddux was ahead of us all night,” Leyland said. “He’s a surgeon. He’s the best in the league.”

Best or not, Maddux (10-1) has become something of a perfectionist, and Wednesday night’s game would not make his list of best efforts. He gave up five hits, struck out 10 and got help from homers by Fred McGriff and Ryan Klesko.

“I struggled a little bit with my location,” Maddux said. “It was there and wasn’t there. I was kind of tired. I threw a lot more changeups than usual. I probably should have thrown one more.”

The other, he said, should have gone to Merced in the eighth inning.

New York 5, St. Louis 4--Bobby Bonilla homered with one out in the 10th inning as the Mets won in St. Louis, their sixth victory in seven games.

Bonilla had been 0 for 4, missing out on the Mets’ 13-hit attack, before hitting a changeup from Rich DeLucia (4-4) for his 15th home run.

Cincinnati 7, San Diego 4--Thomas Howard singled home the winning run as the Reds scored four times in the ninth inning to win at San Diego.

Deion Sanders hit a game-tying single off Trevor Hoffman (4-3) before Howard brought home Eddie Taubensee with the winning run.

Colorado 5, Philadelphia 3--Dante Bichette and Walt Weiss each drove in two runs in Denver, helping right-hander Bryan Rekar earn a victory in his major league debut.

Rekar, pitching at his third level of professional baseball this season after starting at double A, went 6 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits.

The Phillies have lost 17 of their last 21 games.

Montreal 4, Chicago 3--Pedro Martinez struck out eight and limited the Cubs to seven hits over seven-plus innings in Montreal.

Martinez (8-5), gave up one run and walked four before tiring in the eighth inning. He came out after issuing a leadoff walk to Mark Grace and a single by Sammy Sosa.

Florida 3, San Francisco 1--After winning two high-scoring games with grand slams, the Marlins won a pitchers’ duel, with John Burkett beating his old mates in San Francisco to complete Florida’s first series sweep in more than a year.

Burkett (7-9) pitched a five-hitter and Greg Colbrunn hit his third homer in two games.