Braves Get Maddux Off the Hook

When a pitcher gives up a late-inning home run two games in a row, it’s a slump.

When Greg Maddux does it, it’s a catastrophe.

You play by a different set of standards when you have won three Cy Young Awards. When you are coming off a 19-2 season and have lost twice already into the first week of May, people start to wonder.

The Braves answered the critics--even if Maddux didn’t--Tuesday night with three runs in the ninth inning to tie the game and a run in the 10th on Javy Lopez’s two-out double to beat the Rockies, 6-5, in Atlanta.

It saved Maddux, who pitched eight innings, from losing successive starts for the first time in nearly two years.

“I feel good about the way I’m throwing,” said Maddux, who fell behind, 5-2, in the seventh inning when Vinny Castilla hit a three-run homer. “I’m not happy about the amount of runs I’m giving up, but I’m not too worried. I feel like I’m pitching pretty good.”

Last Friday, Maddux lost to Philadelphia, 6-3, giving up the first regular-season grand slam of his career in the ninth inning.

The Rockies’ Bruce Ruffin, who came on in the eighth inning after rookie Mike Farmer had given up only two hits in his first major-league start, gave up a leadoff single to Fred McGriff in the ninth but got the next two batters out. After Ryan Klesko’s infield single scored McGriff, the Rockies called on Curtis Leskanic.

But he walked Jeff Blauser, and pinch-hitter Dwight Smith blooped an 0-and-2 pitch to left field for an RBI single that made it 5-4. Leskanic also got two strikes on Marquis Grissom, who singled to right-center field to tie it up.

In the 10th, Leskanic (2-1) struck out the first two hitters but walked David Justice before giving up Lopez’s double.

San Francisco 4, St. Louis 2--Barry Bonds, who had been 0 for 5 against Tony Fossas, hit a 416-foot, two-run homer off him in the seventh inning to break a 2-2 tie in St. Louis.

Rod Beck pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his sixth save, sending St. Louis to its 11th loss in 14 games.

Houston 7, Philadelphia 5--Jeff Bagwell went four for four and homered twice for the Astros, who used a two-out single by Orlando Miller in the eighth inning to break a tie and win in Philadelphia.

Bagwell hit an RBI single in the third inning, tied the score, 5-5, with a two-run homer in the seventh off Russ Springer (2-2) and added a solo shot in the ninth off Ken Ryan.

Montreal 8, Chicago 3--Moises Alou and F.P. Santangelo hit two-run doubles in a five-run seventh inning for the Expos, who won their ninth in a row at home, where they last lost on April 18.

Florida 3, New York 2--The Marlins won in Miami even though they left 14 runners on base and lost their pitching ace Kevin Brown after three innings because of a bruised leg suffered when he was hit by a sharp grounder in the second inning.

Strong relief pitching by Chris Hammond, Yorkis Perez and Rob Nen handed the Mets their third loss in a row.