Diamondbacks Gain Ground

Jay Bell hit a solo home run in the seventh inning and Randy Johnson outpitched Tom Glavine as the Arizona Diamondbacks edged the Atlanta Braves, 2-1, Friday night at Phoenix to move up in the wild-card race.

Arizona won its third in a row to close within four games of the New York Mets in the chase for a playoff spot. The Mets trail Atlanta by two games in the NL East.

Johnson (18-6) struck out 13 in seven innings. He already was out of the game and watching when Bell pulled a pitch from Glavine into the left-field grandstand with two outs, breaking a 1-1 tie.

It was Bell’s 16th homer and second solo shot in two games. Glavine (19-8) failed in his second try at becoming the majors’ first 20-game winner.

Byung-Hyun Kim struck out the side in the eighth and Matt Mantei worked the ninth for his 15th save in 18 chances.

Johnson evened his head-to-head record with Glavine at 2-2 in five matchups this year.

Johnson gave up one run and seven hits, and walked none. Glavine also gave up seven hits in seven innings, striking out seven and walking one.

He raised his majors-leading total to 326 and his career mark to 3,019.

Montreal 4, New York 3--Orlando Cabrera’s home run capped a three-run rally in the sixth inning as the Expos won at Montreal.

Mike Piazza, who entered the game hitting .162 in September, hit his 35th homer for the Mets.

Javier Vazquez (10-7) pitched eight innings to win his second consecutive game. He struck out nine and walked none, giving up three runs and nine hits.

Trailing, 3-1, Montreal got three consecutive two-out hits in the sixth to chase Leiter and take the lead.

St. Louis 3, Chicago 2--Mark McGwire homered on the first pitch he has seen at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in more than two months, connecting for a pinch-hit shot in the eighth inning that gave the Cardinals the victory.

McGwire, who has been reduced to one at-bat per game since returning from the disabled list with tendinitis in his right knee, hit a solo home run with one out off Jon Lieber (12-10).

McGwire is three for six since coming off the DL, with two homers and a single.

Jim Edmonds hit his 40th homer to reach 100 RBIs as the Cardinals cut their magic number for winning the NL Central to four.

Sammy Sosa was hitless in four at-bats.

Houston 16, Pittsburgh 7--Chris Truby homered, tripled, doubled and drove in five runs as the Astros won at Houston.

Moises Alou homered, doubled twice and drove in four runs for the Astros. Truby and Alou both doubled during a six-run eighth inning that broke open the game.

Reliever Brian Powell (2-1) threw two hitless innings for the victory. He pitched for the first time since Aug. 28, having been sidelined because of a sore shoulder.

Cincinnati 6, Milwaukee 4--Steve Parris won his seventh consecutive start as the Reds won at Cincinnati.

Parris (12-14) gave up two runs on five hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked four.

Danny Graves pitched a perfect ninth for his 29th save.

Jamey Wright (6-8) gave up four runs on seven hits in five innings.

Alex Ochoa was two for three and scored two runs.

Philadelphia 7, Florida 4--Kevin Jordan, who took over in the third after Scott Rolen was forced to leave because of back stiffness, hit a two-run double to key the victory at Philadelphia.

Robert Person (9-5) struck out 10, matching a season high, in seven-plus innings.