Piazza Remains Red Hot

New York Manager Bobby Valentine pulled starter Al Leiter after seven strong innings, and it almost cost the Mets an important victory at Philadelphia.

The Phillies scored three runs off Met relievers Thursday night, but New York held on for a 7-5 victory to remain tied for the NL wild-card lead with the Chicago Cubs.

Valentine removed Leiter (15-5) with a 6-2 lead, even though the left-hander had given up only two hits and appeared to be in command.

“It got too tight at the end, and it was my fault,” Valentine said. “I was looking at the future, and I should have known better. I learned a lesson.”

Mike Piazza continued his torrid hitting with a three-run homer and a double. In his last 15 games, Piazza is 27 for 50 (.540) with seven home runs and 19 RBIs.

New York took a 5-0 lead in the first inning. After Tony Phillips and Edgardo Alfonzo walked, they moved up on Matt Franco’s sacrifice. Piazza then lined his 30th homer over the left-field fence, giving him 100 RBIs. Rey Ordonez hit a two-run double later in the inning.

It’s the third consecutive season that Piazza has at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs.

The Phillies scored a run in the bottom of the eighth on Doug Glanville’s single, and made the score 7-5 in the ninth on an error by second baseman Carlos Baerga and Glanville’s one-out single against closer John Franco. But Franco struck out Kevin Sefcik and retired Scott Rolen on a forceout for his 35th save.

Houston 7, Milwaukee 1--Shane Reynolds struck out 12 at Houston as the Astros won their sixth game in a row.

The Astros lowered the magic number for clinching their second consecutive NL Central title to four. Houston also stayed in front in the race for the best record in the league, one win ahead of Atlanta and two ahead of San Diego.

Tony Eusebio drove in three runs and Derek Bell drove in two. Bell later made a mental mistake in right field, tossing a live ball into the stands, but Houston went on to its 94th victory--two behind the team record set by the 1986 club.

Reynolds (18-8) was overpowering early in the game when he set down the Brewers’ first 12 batters, five by strikeout. Jeff Cirillo led off the fifth inning with a bunt single.

Craig Biggio singled in the third, leaving him two hits short of breaking Enos Cabell’s club record in a season of 195.

Atlanta 7, Montreal 4--Javy Lopez hit a three-run homer at Montreal and Kevin Millwood became the third Atlanta pitcher to win 15 games as the Braves ended a three-game losing streak.

Lopez hit his 33rd homer off Mike Thurman (3-4) in the third inning to give the Braves a 5-1 lead. Atlanta went on to win for only the second time in seven games.

Millwood (15-8) gave up four runs--two earned--and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Tom Glavine has won 18 for the Braves and Greg Maddux has won 17. Denny Neagle and John Smoltz have 14 victories.