Maddux Gets a Break, Shuts Out Pirates

Greg Maddux figures he “caught a break” in pitching the 24th shutout of his career. He six-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0, Wednesday at Atlanta.

“When I let the last pitch go, I shuddered. It was a fat one down the middle. I thought, ‘There goes the shutout,’ ” said Maddux (1-1), who struck out five and retired 17 Pirates on groundouts.

Kevin Young hit that last pitch into a game-ending double play that sent the Pirates to their third loss in a row.

Walt Weiss and Chipper Jones each had three hits for the Braves, and Maddux and Eddie Perez had two each.

San Diego 1, San Francisco 0--Kevin Brown pitched a four-hitter at San Francisco to continue his career dominance of the Giants.

Greg Vaughn’s homer in the second inning provided the only run as the Padres won for the ninth time in 10 games.

Brown (2-0) pitched his 13th career shutout and won his ninth decision in a row, including his last seven for Florida in 1997.

Brown walked two and struck out eight. He also had three of San Diego’s nine hits, including two bunt singles.

Brown is 5-0 with a 0.51 ERA in six lifetime starts against the Giants.

New York Mets 2, Chicago Cubs 1--New York’s Rick Reed pitched seven scoreless innings and hit a two-run home run to complete a unique day at Shea Stadium.

The Yankees had defeated the Angels at the stadium earlier in the day, a game moved because of structural problems at Yankee Stadium. It was the first time this century two regular-season games involving four major league teams were played in the same stadium on the same day.

Reed (1-1) walked two and struck out two, and supplied all the runs the Mets needed with the second home run of his career.

Florida 3, Philadelphia 2--Pinch-hitter Jim Eisenreich hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning off Curt Schilling at Miami to rally the Marlins over the Phillies.

Rookie Brian Meadows (1-2) earned his first major league victory as the Marlins became the first team this season to solve Schilling (2-1).

Schilling gave up three runs on only four hits in seven innings against Florida. He struck out seven and walked six.

The World Series champion Marlins won two consecutive games for the first time this year.

Montreal 4, Milwaukee 3--Shane Andrews homered for the second consecutive day and Trey Moore earned his first major league victory at Montreal, Canada.

Andrews hit a homer off Jeff Juden (2-1) with one out in the fourth, giving Montreal a 4-1 lead. Juden gave up four runs and eight hits in seven innings.

Cincinnati 4, Houston 1--The Reds extended their offensive surge as Willie Greene and Chris Stynes homered at Cincinnati.

The Reds earned their fourth victory in five games and matched their win total for last April.

Greene hit a three-run homer in the second inning and Stynes added a solo homer, his fourth, in the fifth inning to hand Brett Tomko (2-1) a 4-1 lead. The right-hander gave up only three singles and walked four over eight innings, and Jeff Shaw pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

Arizona at St. Louis--The game was postponed because of rain.