No Concession by San Diego at Atlanta

Best record in the National League?

No question: Atlanta.

Best pitching?

Well . . .

In Atlanta, for Thursday anyway, it was San Diego, which got an 11-hit effort from Kevin Brown (16-4) and three teammates in a 2-0 win to pull within a game of the Braves for the best overall record in the NL.

“There’s added incentive, no question about that,” Padre Manager Bruce Bochy said. “You want to focus on winning the [NL West] division, obviously, but we have a nice lead like they do. There’s extra incentive to keep going hard and try to get the home-field advantage.”

The top record in the league is critical this year, because of a change that guarantees home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs. The Padres (82-45) had closed within a game of Atlanta (83-44) after winning the first two games of a series at San Diego last week, but the Braves maintained their lead by salvaging the final game.

Brown joined teammate Andy Ashby and Atlanta’s Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine as the league leaders in victories.

Chicago 7, San Francisco 3--Glenallen Hill’s two-out, full-count, pinch-hit grand slam in the sixth inning beat his former teammates at Chicago.

Hill was pinch-hitting for Kevin Tapani (15-7), who gave up four hits and three runs--two of them on homers--in five innings. He also struck out five.

Sammy Sosa went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts a day after hitting his 48th home run.

Colorado 6, Montreal 3--The Rockies’ Darryl Kile struck out 14 on the way to his first road win since May.

Kile (10-14) gave up three runs on nine hits in seven innings to win his third consecutive start and help Colorado end a four-game losing streak.

Montreal has lost eight of its last 10.

Pittsburgh 6, Cincinnati 5--Manny Martinez had an RBI single in the ninth inning over a drawn-in outfield to give the Pirates a win at Pittsburgh.

Jason Kendall doubled to left field on the first pitch thrown by Danny Graves (2-1) in the ninth. One out later, Kendall stole third, prompting the Reds to pull in their infield and outfield.

After Jose Guillen was hit by a pitch, Martinez lifted an 0-and-2 pitch over the head of center fielder Jeffrey Hammonds for his third RBI of the game.

Milwaukee 6, Houston 5--Fernando Vina’s fourth hit, a one-out single in the 10th inning, gave the Brewers a victory at Milwaukee.

The Brewers took advantage of reliever Billy Wagner’s error to score the tying run in the ninth, and in the 10th, Mike Magnante (4-6) hit Geoff Jenkins with a pitch and Darrin Jackson doubled. One out later, Vina singled over drawn-in right fielder Derek Bell.

Philadelphia 11-9, Arizona 1-12--Devon White hit a three-run homer in the top of the 11th inning for the Diamondbacks, who rallied from a five-run deficit to win the second game and earn a split of a doubleheader at Philadelphia.

In the first game, Curt Schilling (12-11) pitched a four-hitter and struck out 14 as the Phillies cruised. Scott Rolen tied a career-high with five RBIs, including a thre-run homer.