Maddux Sends Padres to Another Loss

Atlanta pitching coach Leo Mazzone detected no difference in the way Greg Maddux pitched Monday night and the way he pitched during a month-long winless drought.

This time, however, Maddux won, giving up four hits over eight innings to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 9-3 victory over the struggling San Diego Padres at Atlanta.

“He’s pitched good enough to be 9-2,” said Mazzone, who noted that Maddux included 30 changeups in his 97 pitches. “He had a great changeup. The bottom was dropping out of it.”

Maddux (6-5) had two losses and three no decisions since his last victory May 17. He walked none and struck out eight. He lost his shutout bid in the sixth on Tony Gwynn’s two-out, run-scoring single.

“I felt good,” Maddux said. “I’m pleased with the way I threw. I located down well, but in and out could have been better.”

Eddie Perez, making his 15th start, caught Maddux for the first time this year after Javy Lopez had worked behind the plate in all his previous starts.

“He did a good job tonight,” Maddux said. “He really did, for never catching me before. I noticed a huge improvement the last three innings.”

It was yet another loss for the Padres, who have dropped 13 of 15 games.

“That was bad,” Padre Manager Bruce Bochy said. “We keep thinking it’s going to get better, but we played as ugly a ballgame as you can play.”

Ryan Klesko doubled and hit his 22nd homer for the Braves, who won for only the fourth time in 11 games. Chipper Jones hit a two-run double to highlight a four-run third inning that gave Maddux a 5-0 lead.

Maddux yielded an infield single to Steve Finley in the first inning, then retired 13 batters in a row before Brian Johnson singled with two out in the fifth.

Houston 5, Cincinnati 4--Jeff Bagwell hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to rally the Astros at Houston.

Bagwell, who leads the NL with 67 runs batted in, doubled to center off Red reliever Jeff Shaw (2-3) with no outs in the seventh. The hit scored John Cangelosi and Craig Biggio to give Houston a 5-4 lead.

Cangelosi had walked to open the inning and moved to second on Biggio’s single. After his double, Bagwell went to third on a groundout but was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on a grounder to third.

Reliever Anthony Young (3-3) pitched two innings for the victory. Dean Hartgraves got two outs in the ninth before Todd Jones finished for his 14th save.

New York 7, Pittsburgh 6--Lance Johnson homered among his three hits, stole two bases and scored the winning run in the 10th inning as the Mets blew a six-run lead before rallying at Pittsburgh.

Jeff Kent also homered as the Mets opened a 6-0 lead in the second inning before holding off a Pirate comeback, keyed by Mark Johnson’s two-run pinch-hit homer and Charlie Hayes’ two-run triple in a five-run seventh.

Pittsburgh’s bullpen had pitched seven scoreless innings before Johnson, who went three for five, singled with two outs in the 10th and stole second.

The single came off Pirate reliever Francisco Cordova (2-4), who had struck out four of the first five batters he faced.

Jose Vizcaino then lined a run-scoring single to right field to score the game-winning run.

San Francisco 1, Florida 0--Osvaldo Fernandez and Rod Beck combined on a three-hitter and Barry Bonds hit his 19th home run as the Giants defeated the Marlins at San Francisco.

Fernandez (4-6), whose spot in the rotation appeared to be in jeopardy after going 0-5 in his last eight starts, walked two, hit two batters and struck out five in 7 2/3 innings. It was his first victory since April 21.

Beck got the final four outs for his 16th save, despite giving up a one-out double to Jeff Conine in the ninth.

Losing pitcher Al Leiter (8-6) gave up only three hits in seven innings.

Montreal 5, Colorado 3--Shane Andrews homered twice and Ugueth Urbina won his fourth consecutive decision as the Expos won at Denver.

Andrews went three for four and drove in four runs for the Expos, who have won five of six. He hit his ninth and 10th homers and had his third three-hit game in his last five games.

Urbina (4-0) gave up five hits over 6 1/3 innings. Mel Rojas pitched the final 1 2/3 innings for his 10th save.

Marvin Freeman (4-4) retired the first seven batters he faced before Andrews hit a solo homer. Mark Grudzielanek tripled with two outs and Mike Lansing followed with a run-scoring single to give the Expos a 2-0 lead.

Andrews’ second homer, a three-run shot in the fourth inning, pushed Montreal’s lead to 5-0.