Montreal Still Can’t Expose Glavine

The Atlanta Braves and Tom Glavine have proven to be an unbeatable combination for the Montreal Expos.

Glavine pitched eight strong innings to win his 10th consecutive decision over Montreal and Chipper Jones hit his second career grand slam and the Braves won their seventh in a row against the Expos, 5-3, Saturday night at Montreal.

“I’ve had a roller-coaster career against these guys,” said Glavine, who hasn’t lost in his last 13 starts against the Expos. “I couldn’t buy a win against these guys my first four or five years. Now it seems I can’t do anything wrong against them. I’m going to try ride it out as long as I can.”

Jones, who hit a grand slam June 25 off the New York Mets’ Bobby Jones, gave Atlanta a 4-0 lead in the third inning, connecting on a fastball from Pedro Martinez (10-4).

“I figured I’d be stupid to sit on anything other than a fastball,” Jones said. “I took a bad cut at a high fastball and figured he’d throw it again. He did and got it a bit out over the plate.”

Glavine (9-4) won his third consecutive decision despite a three-run Montreal sixth. He gave up three runs and seven hits, struck out three and walked one.

Mark Wohlers got three outs for his 20th save in 21 opportunities.

Glavine, one of seven Braves who will play in Tuesday’s All-Star game, has given up seven earned runs in 42 innings over his last five starts, a 1.50 earned-run average.

“As far as the All-Star game goes, I think my numbers are as good as anybody’s,” Glavine said. “There’s no question that 9-4 looks a whole lot better than 8-5.

“I was just happy to go out and pitch a decent game against, if not the best pitcher in the league, certainly one of the top two or three.”

Martinez, another all-star, had his ERA go from 1.54 to 1.74.

Houston 2, Cincinnati 1--Houston pitcher Darryl Kile lost a bid for his second career no-hitter with two outs in the eighth inning when Deion Sanders lined a single to right field at Houston, but the Astros ended the Reds’ five-game winning streak.

Sanders hit a 0-and-1 pitch to end the no-hit bid. Kile, who had a no-hitter against the New York Mets on Sept. 8, 1993, in Houston, then struck out Curtis Goodwin for his 12th strikeout to match his career high.

“That was a Nolan Ryan type of night,” Red Manager Ray Knight said of Kile.

Kile (10-3), who walked four, gave up a leadoff home run to Willie Greene in the ninth. He was replaced by Billy Wagner, who got the final three outs for his 15th save.

“I thought of all people, not Deion Sanders,” Wagner said. “Deion’s just not the person you want getting the first hit. Everybody wants to pitch against Prime Time and make him look bad.”

Pittsburgh 4, St. Louis 3--Turner Ward had the first four-hit game of his career and drove in the tie-breaking run and the Pirates extended their winning streak to a season-high six games at St. Louis.

Tony Womack drove in two runs for the Pirates, who have taken the first three games of the series to regain sole possession of first place in the NL Central.

Jon Lieber (6-8) gave up two runs on six hits in six innings. Marc Wilkins got last two outs for his first save of the season.

Kevin Young hit his 10th home run for the Pirates, a solo shot off reliever Tony Fossas. Young has six home runs in his last 11 games.

Philadelphia 9, Chicago 7--Kevin Stocker and Scott Rolen combined for five RBIs as the Phillies ended an 11-game losing streak with a comeback victory at Philadelphia.

Rolen went two for four and drove in two runs, including the game-winning hit in Philadelphia’s five-run seventh, and Stocker went three for four with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored.

Reggie Harris (1-3) worked one hitless inning to get the victory. The Phillies trailed 6-3 in the seventh when they used four doubles to score five runs and take a two-run lead.

New York 5, Florida 3--Edgardo Alfonzo, who extended his career-high hitting streak to 18 games, and Carlos Baerga each hit a solo home run to lead the Mets at New York.

Mark Clark (7-5), who had lost three of his previous four decisions, was the winning pitcher. He went 5 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on 10 hits and two walks. He struck out seven.

John Franco pitched the ninth for his 20th save in 24 opportunities, giving up a run on pinch-hitter Alex Arias’ RBI single.

Alex Fernandez (9-7), winner of his last four starts, was the losing pitcher. The right-hander went the distance, giving up 11 hits with five strikeouts and one walk.

Gary Sheffield of the Marlins, who had an RBI triple and a single in his first two at-bats, was ejected by home-plate umpire Jerry Meals after protesting a called third strike in the fifth.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Kevin Stocker Philadelphia 3 for 4, double, home run, 3 RBIs, 2 runs Eric Karros Dodgers 2 for 5, home run, 3 RBIs, 1 run Chipper Jones Atlanta 1 for 4, grand slam, 4 RBIs, 1 run

Player Team’s Result Kevin Stocker Win Eric Karros Win Chipper Jones Win

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PITCHING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Darryl Kile Houston 8 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 12 strikeouts Win Ismael Valdes Dodgers 5 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks Win Tom Glavine Atlanta 8 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk Win

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