Maddux Gets Plenty of Help to Beat Cubs

With a strong wind turning fly balls into long homers at Wrigley Field, Greg Maddux knew it could be a long day for pitchers. It was, but not for him.

Maddux pitched a solid six innings and the East Division-leading Braves hit three home runs to win their seventh straight in a 13-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday afternoon.

“The wind’s blowing out, you know that you’re going to give up a couple,” Maddux said. “You just try to stay out of the big inning and hope your team has one before they do.”

Atlanta had several to support Maddux (7-8).

With the score tied, 3-3, Cub starter Shawn Estes (6-8) walked Gary Sheffield and Chipper Jones to start the sixth. After Andruw Jones struck out, Julio Franco and Vinny Castilla hit run-scoring singles. Franco then scored on Henry Blanco’s sacrifice fly to give Atlanta a 6-3 lead.

The Braves then broke open the game with three runs in the sixth and five more in the eighth.

Castilla homered, doubled twice and drove in four runs -- falling a triple short of hitting for the cycle. Franco had three hits with an RBI.

“They beat us up pretty good,” Cub Manager Dusty Baker said. “They scored the three runs, after that everything they hit was hard and found a hole.”

Philadelphia 7, New York 2 -- Jim Thome and Mike Lieberthal capped a four-run first inning with consecutive homers to lead the Phillies at Shea Stadium.

The second-place Phillies remained 8 1/2 games behind Atlanta in the East Division. The Mets have lost four in a row and are 20 games behind in last place. The last time they were this far out of first so early in the season was June 9, 1993, when they fell 20 1/2 back.

Houston 11, Cincinnati 2 -- The Astros recorded the biggest first inning in franchise history, scoring nine runs at Houston to send the Reds to their eighth straight loss. The Astros outscored the Reds, 36-8, during a four-game sweep.

Richard Hidalgo hit a three-run double and Geoff Blum had two hits in the inning, including a two-run single. Jeff Bagwell, Brad Ausmus and Adam Everett had RBI singles as the Astros chased Paul Wilson (5-6) before he got an out.

It was the most runs for the Astros in any inning since they scored nine in the sixth at Pittsburgh on Sept. 8, 1999.

Pittsburgh 5, Milwaukee 4 -- Jeff Suppan (8-7) pitched a complete game to win at Milwaukee. He gave up eight hits, walked none and struck out nine to help the Pirates earn a split in the four-game series.

Manager Lloyd McClendon said he didn’t like that Suppan threw a season-high 133 pitches to go the distance but was happy he was able to give his bullpen some rest.

“It was [Suppan’s] game to win or lose,” he said.