Phillies’ Lee Tees Off Against Maddux

Travis Lee wanted a good pitch to hit. He was shocked it was that good.

Lee hit his first homer and Robert Person pitched six shutout innings Saturday night as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Atlanta Braves, 4-1, at Philadelphia.

Brave starter Greg Maddux hadn’t given up an earned run in 23 innings before Lee hit a two-out homer in the fourth.

“I was looking for a pitch to hit,” said Lee, who lined a 3-1 pitch over the right-center field fence for a 1-0 lead.

“I didn’t know what he was thinking. He’s a magician. I knew he didn’t want to walk me. It was a fastball right down the middle.”

The Phillies have won consecutive games and are in first place in the National League East.

Maddux (2-1) gave up four runs--two earned--and seven hits in seven innings. He has yet to walk a batter in 27 innings and has given up only six earned runs in 67 innings since Sept. 2.

“It was weird,” Maddux said. “I thought the innings I gave up runs I pitched better than when they didn’t score.”

Person (2-1) gave up six hits and struck out seven. He left after the first two runners reached base in the seventh.

Ricky Bottalico pitched the eighth and Jose Mesa gave up a run-scoring double to Chipper Jones in the ninth.

The Phillies added an unearned run in the fifth on a botched squeeze attempt by Doug Glanville. Marlon Anderson doubled to start the inning, went to third on a sacrifice by Person and scored when Jones hit him in the back with a throw during a rundown after the Braves pitched out on the squeeze try.

Arizona 10, Colorado 5--Reggie Sanders homered twice for the second consecutive game and Luis Gonzalez tied an NL record with his 11th home run in April to lead the Diamondbacks at Phoenix.

Sanders beat the Rockies Friday with a ninth-inning home run--his second of the game. This time, he sent the Diamondbacks to a 5-2 lead against Ron Villone (0-1) with his first career grand slam in the third inning and made it 10-4 with a solo shot in the seventh.

Robert Ellis (2-0) started because Brian Anderson had a sore back.

New York 5, Cincinnati 2--Todd Zeile hit a two-run single in a four-run third inning as the Mets took advantage of four errors by the Reds for the victory at Cincinnati.

The Reds’ miscues led to five unearned runs for the Mets, who had lost their first four games of the season to Cincinnati. Kevin Appier (2-1) gave up two runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings for the Mets. He retired 11 consecutive batters after giving up two runs in the second.

Chicago 4, Pittsburgh 3--Todd Hundley led off the ninth inning with his second homer of the game for the Cubs at Pittsburgh.

Hundley, who entered the game batting .154 with no home runs, connected off Mike Williams (1-1) to open the ninth for the Cubs (12-5), who have won four in a row and are off to their best start since 1975.

Hundley also hit a two-run shot in the seventh inning off starter Todd Ritchie to tie the score at 2-2.

St. Louis 9, Houston 2--J.D. Drew hit two home runs and drove in three runs for the Cardinals and Jose Lima struggled at Houston.

Lima (1-1), who gave up a NL-leading 48 home runs last season, gave up nine runs--eight earned--eight hits and three home runs in four-plus innings for Houston. Matt Morris (2-2) gave up two runs, five hits and one walk in seven innings. Morris retired 16 consecutive batters at one point before Richard Hidalgo led off the seventh with a single.

Milwaukee 6, San Francisco 3--Jose Hernandez and Jeromy Burnitz homered at San Francisco as the Brewers won for only the second time in eight road games.

Paul Rigdon (2-0) gave up three runs and six hits in seven innings to beat San Francisco for the second time in a week. He also had a run-scoring single.

Florida 5, Montreal 0--Brad Penny (1-0) pitched a four-hitter for his first career shutout and struck out eight at Miami.

Alex Gonzalez hit a two-run homer for the Marlins. Mike Thurman (1-3) gave up five runs and six hits in seven innings for the Expos, who have lost nine of 11.

Around the League

New York Met left-hander Al Leiter, who was scheduled to start Thursday, will miss the start because of a strained elbow. His turn will be pushed to Saturday in St. Louis. Leiter, who has flexor tendinitis in his left elbow, underwent an MRI exam. He has a mild strain, but team physician Andrew Rokito said there wasn’t any structural damage.