Clemens-Maddux Matchup Is a Real Hit With the Batters

Talk about a letdown.

Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux, two of baseball’s greatest pitchers, faced each other for the first time Saturday--and looked as if they were throwing batting practice.

Instead of the expected 1-0 or 2-1 duel, the Atlanta Braves slugged their way to an 11-7 victory over the New York Yankees as the teams combined for 24 hits.

“I don’t think anybody in the world could have predicted that,” said Atlanta’s Brian Jordan, who hit a three-run homer and had four runs batted in. “When we got to the two-hour mark and it was just the fifth inning, I said to myself, ‘This is unbelievable.’ ”

Javy Lopez put the Braves ahead for good with a two-out, two-run double in the seventh inning, long after Maddux and Clemens had departed. The Braves added three more runs in the eighth, then nearly squandered the lead in the ninth when New York loaded the bases against John Rocker on two walks and a hit batter.

Shane Spencer hit a drive that Trenidad Hubbard caught with his back against the left-field wall, finally ending the 3-hour 57-minute game.

“I just want to go home,” Chipper Jones said.

All signs pointed to a low-scoring game.

Clemens, a five-time American League Cy Young winner, lost to Boston’s Pedro Martinez last Sunday, striking out 13 but giving up a two-run, two-out homer in the ninth. Maddux, who has won four Cy Youngs in the National League, was coming off his first shutout in nearly two years, blanking the Cubs, 1-0, on a six-hitter Monday.

But it took only 10 pitches to realize this wasn’t going to be a pitchers’ duel. The Yankees had four hits and a 2-0 lead before Maddux even got an out, marking the first time he has given up four straight hits at a game’s start.

“It’s weird,” said Maddux, who gave up 13 hits in 5 2/3 innings. “A week ago, it looked like this game would be 1-0. But it always happens like that.”

Clemens gave up only five hits but lasted only five innings, having thrown 119 pitches. “I thought I had good enough stuff to get it done,” Clemens said.

Manager Joe Torre added, “He wasn’t very good. I don’t know the reason for it.”