Smoltz, Cox Banished as Braves Beat Reds

After a long night of double ejections and three more walks by Mark Wohlers, the Atlanta Braves had one thing to be grateful for Wednesday night--they won again.

The Braves rallied after starter John Smoltz and Manager Bobby Cox were ejected, batting around in the next two innings and hitting three homers in an 11-5 victory over the Reds at Cincinnati.

Smoltz and Cox were ejected during an argument with umpire Hunter Wendelstedt over a call at third base in the fourth inning, when Cincinnati led, 1-0.

The NL East leaders made it the turning point by scoring four runs with two out in the fifth off Steve Parris (3-0). They then pulled away with three homers--Tony Graffanino’s three-run shot and two-run homers by Andruw Jones and Javy Lopez.

Atlanta reliever Mark Wohlers, who has struggled with his control since returning from the minors July 15, had another wild outing.

Wohlers, who threw only 10 strikes in 31 pitches during a 13-1 loss Tuesday night, started the ninth and walked three straight batters before being replaced by Kerry Ligtenberg.

Montreal 6, San Francisco 0--Hot-hitting Vladimir Guerrero belted his 24th homer and scored three runs and Dustin Hermanson and Mike Maddux combined on a five-hitter at Montreal.

Guerrero hit a two-run homer off Danny Darwin (6-9) in the first inning, his 10th homer of the month. He also scored on Brad Fullmer’s single in the fourth and Fullmer’s two-run triple in the fifth.

Milwaukee 2, St. Louis 1--Steve Woodard struck out a season-high 11 batters and Jeff Cirillo hit a two-run homer to lead the Brewers at St. Louis.

Woodard (8-5) struck out the first five batters he faced and didn’t give up a hit until pitcher Bobby Witt singled with one out in the third. Woodard gave up six hits and no walks in 6 1/3 innings.

Pittsburgh 12, Colorado 1--Al Martin had four RBIs and Jose Guillen three to help the Pirates rout the Rockies at Denver.

In four-plus innings, Darryl Kile (7-13) yielded nine runs and 11 hits. In 10 starts at Coors Field this season, Kile is 2-6 with a 7.93 earned-run average.

Houston 10, Florida 6--Moises Alou hit his fourth homer in as many games and the Astros beat the Marlins for the fifth time in as many meetings this season.

Alou homered during a five-run first inning in the game at Houston. In the past 13 games, Alou is batting .320 with six homers and 15 RBIs.

Chicago 7, Arizona 3--Mark Grace homered into the Bank One Ballpark swimming pool for the second time this season and doubled in another run as the Cubs improved to 18-8 in July for their most victories in any month since September 1993.