Mets Go Quietly and Remain Tied

Given a chance to move one game ahead of the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card race, the New York Mets squandered the opportunity at Shea Stadium on Wednesday night when they managed only three hits in losing to the Montreal Expos, 3-0.

Bob Henley homered in the second inning off Bobby Jones (9-9) and winner Carl Pavano (6-8) had a run-scoring double later in the inning for the Expos, who went 8-4 against the Mets this year.

With three games left, the Mets remained tied with the Cubs, who blew a seven-run lead and lost, 8-7, at Milwaukee.

San Francisco 4, Pittsburgh 1--With four games left, the Giants still have an outside shot of making the playoffs.

Joe Carter hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning and Mark Gardner (13-5) yielded five hits in eight innings at San Francisco as the Giants won their third straight and moved to within 1 1/2 games of the Mets and Cubs in the wild-card race.

Atlanta 11, Florida 0--The loss at Miami assured the Marlins (51-107) of the league’s worst record in 22 years. The Braves, meanwhile, reduced to one their magic number for clinching the league’s best record, which would ensure home-field advantage in the first two rounds of postseason play.

Rookies George Lombard and Wes Helms hit their first major league home runs, Andres Galarraga hit his 44th and Gerald Williams homered for the Braves, who increased their team-record total to 212.

Colorado 14, Arizona 11--Todd Helton homered twice and drove in five runs at Denver to help the Rockies end a four-game losing streak to the Diamondbacks.

Colorado’s Larry Walker went three for three to improve his league-leading batting average to .360.

Philadelphia 4, Cincinnati 2--Mark Portugal (10-5) gave up four singles and walked four in 7 2/3 innings as he finished off a successful season of pitching on the road. The right-hander was 8-2 in 15 road starts with a 3.06 earned-run average.