Glavine, Lopez Help Braves End Skid, 6-3

Tom Glavine chose an opportune time to be his old reliable self.

Glavine pitched into the ninth inning and Javy Lopez hit a two-run homer Friday night as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-3, at Milwaukee to end a losing streak at three games.

Glavine (2-0) gave up two runs in the first inning, but did not allow another run until the ninth. He gave up seven hits and struck out seven before leaving with a 6-2 lead in the ninth after the Brewers put two runners on base with no outs.

“It was vintage Glavine,” Brave Manager Bobby Cox said. “He gave up two in the first. He didn’t bend much more and that was it. He really pitched good. The ball was running like crazy. It was really sinking away from right-handers.”

Kerry Ligtenberg gave up Ron Belliard’s sacrifice fly before Mike Remlinger got the last out for his second save.

Steve Woodard (0-2) gave up three runs and 10 hits in seven innings.

With the score tied at 2-2 in the seventh, Walt Weiss drew a one-out walk and advanced on Glavine’s sacrifice.

Quilvio Veras followed with a run-scoring double. Veras was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Geoff Jenkins on Andruw Jones’ single.

“I made some mistakes,” Woodward said. “Two-out runs . . . you try to stay away from those. That’s what beat me tonight.”

The Braves got three runs in the eighth against Curtis Leskanic.

Andres Galarraga singled and advanced on a wild pitch. After Trenidad Hubbard walked, Galarraga moved up on another wild pitch and continued home on a throwing error by catcher Tyler Houston.

Lopez followed with his second homer, a 390-foot shot to left.

New York 8, Pittsburgh 5--Mike Piazza had two homers in his the first five-hit game of his career and Melvin Mora had a go-ahead, two-run single in the 12th inning at Pittsburgh.

The Mets outhit the Pirates, 20-11, but didn’t win until Mora followed Rey Ordonez’s single and Benny Agbayani’s bad-hop double with a bloop single to center against Jose Silva (2-1).

Piazza followed with his third homer of the season and 19th of his career against the Pirates.

John Franco (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the victory after Armando Benitez blew his first save opportunity of the season and a 4-3 lead in the ninth.

Arizona 3, San Francisco 1--Randy Johnson struck out 11 and Damian Miller lined a two-out, two-run double in the ninth inning to lift the Diamondbacks at San Francisco.

The Giants, swept by the Dodgers in their inaugural series at Pacific Bell Park, are 0-4 in their new stadium and have lost six in a row. The six-game skid is their longest since September 1996.

Johnson (3-0) continued his early season brilliance, giving up five hits without a walk in his second complete game. The National League Cy Young winner has struck out 34 in 26 2/3 innings.

Erubiel Durazo hit a leadoff single in the ninth against Livan Hernandez (0-3) and pinch-runner Hanley Frias moved up on a sacrifice bunt. Travis Lee reached on an infield single to put runners at the corners.

After Frias was thrown out at the plate on Lenny Harris’ grounder back to the mound, Miller doubled.

Johnson gave up only one hit through 5 2/3 innings. Calvin Murray, who had singled in the fourth, singled again in the sixth and scored on Bill Mueller’s double down the left-field line to tie the score at 1-1.

Hernandez walked two and struck out five in a complete-game loss.

Florida 9, Chicago 4--Danny Bautista hit a three-run homer and Alex Gonzalez added a two-run shot to lift the Marlins at Chicago.

Sammy Sosa hit a solo homer for the Cubs.

Alex Fernandez (2-1) gave up four runs, eight hits and two walks in seven innings. He struck out three.

Andrew Lorraine (1-1) gave up five runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. Lorraine struck out a career-high eight batters.

After Gonzalez gave the Marlins a 2-0 lead in the first inning with his first homer of the year, Lorraine retired 17 of the next 19 batters he faced.

Montreal 4, Philadelphia 0--Dustin Hermanson pitched the second shutout of his career and Vladimir Guerrero hit his fifth home run of the season for the Expos at Philadelphia.

Hermanson (1-1) gave up six hits in his first shutout since July 15, 1997, against the Florida Marlins. He gave up only one hit after the second inning.

Hermanson struck out five and walked two in his first complete game since May 3, 1998, against the Diamondbacks.

Chris Brock (0-2) struck out a career-high 11 in seven innings, but was hurt by three solo home runs.

Colorado 6, St. Louis 2--Pedro Astacio pitched 7 1/3 solid innings and the Rockies backed him with three home runs at Denver.

Astacio (1-2) gave up only four hits and two runs. He struck out eight against a lineup that was without the injured Mark McGwire.

“I used a lot of fastballs, some changeups and a few curveballs,” Astacio said. “I used most everything, and everything worked pretty well in most situations. I made some good pitches tonight to get outs.”

Astacio took a shot off his leg from Jim Edmonds in the third but refused to consider leaving the game.

“It’s nothing,” he said. “I got the guy out. It’s worse when you get hit like that and you don’t get the guy out.”

Home runs by Jeff Cirillo, Scott Servais and Mike Lansing--all against Rick Ankiel (1-1)--gave the Rockies an early 4-1 lead.

Houston 10, San Diego 4--Jeff Bagwell hit a grand slam and Shane Reynolds hit a solo home run and pitched five effective innings for the Astros at San Diego.

Bagwell homered against Kevin Walker to cap a six-run sixth inning as the Astros broke a 3-3 tie. Walker was making his major league debut.

Reynolds (2-0) was not at his sharpest as he gave up three runs and 10 hits in five innings. But the right-hander was able to pitch out of trouble to keep the score close.

Reynolds was more successful with his bat as he hit a solo homer against Brian Boehringer (0-2) leading off the fifth inning to tie the score.