Braves Win Division for 11th Straight Time

The New York Mets didn’t give the Atlanta Braves a chance to celebrate another division title on the field.

The Braves clinched their 11th consecutive division championship when the Mets beat the Phillies, 6-4, Monday night at Philadelphia behind Mike Piazza’s grand slam.

Philadelphia’s loss wrapped up the National League East for the Braves, who didn’t play Monday. The second-place Phillies are a staggering 21 games behind Atlanta.

The Braves became the first team this season to secure a postseason berth, and they did it earlier than any team in Atlanta history. The 1975 Cincinnati Reds have the earliest clinching since divisional play began in ‘69, wrapping up the NL West on Sept. 7.

Piazza went deep in a six-run seventh inning as the Mets set a season high with their seventh consecutive victory.

“It’s as good a roll as we’ve been on,” Manager Bobby Valentine said. “Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

Arizona 5, San Diego 2--On the eve of his 39th birthday, Randy Johnson reached 300 strikeouts for the fifth consecutive season and earned his 21st victory at Phoenix.

Johnson already held the major league record of four consecutive 300-strikeout seasons. He has six 300-strikeout seasons overall, tying the major league mark held by Nolan Ryan.

Johnson (21-5) scattered eight hits and walked three in seven innings. The lone run he allowed came on Ron Gant’s homer leading off the sixth.

St. Louis 3, Milwaukee 0--Woody Williams and four relievers combined on a five-hitter at Milwaukee as the Cardinals won their sixth in a row.

In his second major league start, Ben Diggins (0-2) gave up three runs, six hits and two walks in seven innings. He struck out seven.

Diggins was the Dodgers’ first-round draft choice in 2000 and was traded to Milwaukee on July 23 in the deal that sent Tyler Houston to the Dodgers.

Houston 6, Colorado 5--Mark Loretta’s 10th-inning single drove in Craig Biggio with the winning run at Houston.

Biggio led off with a walk and moved to second on a single by Lance Berkman. Jeff Bagwell’s fly-ball out moved Biggio to third, and Loretta then lined a hit through the left side.

Cincinnati 9, Pittsburgh 8--Jose Guillen hit a grand slam and drove in five runs for the Reds at Cincinnati.

The announced attendance of 13,434 was Cincinnati’s smallest home crowd of the season.

Chicago 3, Montreal 2--Alex Gonzalez homered in the bottom of the ninth inning for his third game-winning shot at Wrigley Field this season.

Earlier this season, Gonzalez hit game-winning homers against St. Louis and Texas.

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The New York Mets acquired outfielder Brady Clark from Cincinnati to complete last month’s trade that sent left-hander Shawn Estes to the Reds.... Phillies’ pitcher David Coggin will have arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder next Monday, ending his season.