Blanco Lifts Braves With a Clutch Homer

Henry Blanco doesn’t get many hits. Even so, he’s becoming the guy the Atlanta Braves want at the plate in clutch situations.

The backup catcher hit a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning for his third game-winning hit this season, leading the streaking Braves to a 6-4 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday night.

“When you look up and see his average on the board, it’s not indicative of how good a hitter he is,” Chipper Jones said. “He turned around a pretty good fastball that was down in the strike zone.”

Blanco came up in the eighth batting .183. But he has a way of coming up with big hits--his other homer was a 10th-inning drive that won a game at Milwaukee.

Arizona 5, Houston 4--Luis Gonzalez drove in Erubiel Durazo with a single in the 13th inning to give the Diamondbacks a victory over the Astros at Phoenix.

Arizona’s Randy Johnson struck out 11 in eight innings but left with his second no-decision in his last three starts.

Johnson, who threw a season-high 137 pitches, gave up three runs and six hits and did not walk a batter.

He reached double-digit strikeouts for the fifth time this season and 176th of his career, second only to Nolan Ryan’s 215.

Florida 2, Philadelphia 1--Luis Castillo went four for five with a home run at Philadelphia to extend his hitting streak to a Marlin-record 23 games, and A.J. Burnett (6-5) pitched a six-hitter for his fourth career complete game.

“When he gets confidence the way he has it, he can go for two or three months,” teammate Kevin Millar said of Castillo. “All of a sudden, he’s Godzilla.”

Millar doubled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 17 games.

Castillo ended a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning with his second homer this year. He singled in the first, seventh and ninth innings.

Burnett walked one and struck out six in his second complete game this season and the fourth of his career. He had been 0-3 in five starts since May 5.

“It was one of those nights, it was a blast,” Burnett said. “I was just letting go and every pitch I heard the pop. I had a good fastball, so we figured we would go with it.”

Montreal 3, Pittsburgh 1--Javier Vazquez pitched a three-hitter and struck out 10 for the Expos at Montreal.

Vazquez (4-2) retired 20 of the first 21 batters, giving up only a two-out single by Josh Fogg (6-4) in the third inning.

“Every time I go out there, that’s what I try to do,” Vazquez said. “Today I felt good. I threw strikes. I was around the zone a lot today, and that’s about it.”

Vazquez lost the shutout bid in the seventh on Brian Giles’ single and Craig Wilson’s double.

“He mixed all his pitches up, worked both sides of the plate, and kept the ball down,” Pittsburgh catcher Jason Kendall said. “If you do that, you’ll be successful.”

Chicago 5, Milwaukee 1--Two struggling hitters found their strokes just in time to help the Cubs avert a three-game sweep.

Moises Alou doubled home the tying run with two out in the ninth inning at Milwaukee, and Bill Mueller hit a two-run double in the 10th.

Alou had been batting .184 and Mueller .189.

“I was more aggressive today, and things worked out for me,” Alou said.

Right fielder Jeffrey Hammonds robbed Sammy Sosa of his 21st home run and hit a sacrifice fly.

St. Louis at Cincinnati--The game was postponed because of rain and will be made up as part of a doubleheader Aug. 27.