Smoltz Is Winner as a Starter

It had been four years between wins as a starter for John Smoltz -- so long that he couldn’t recall the last one, June 3, 2001, against Pittsburgh.

So Tuesday night’s 4-3 victory over the New York Mets was special for the man who has returned to the Braves rotation this season after posting 154 saves.

“It’s a big part of the process,” Smoltz said. “You need a game like this. It means there’s a lot of life left.”

Smoltz, who will be 38 on May 15, returned from the bullpen to the rotation as the Braves shuffled their pitching staff. He had struggled with little run support in his first four starts and went into the seventh inning in New York without his best stuff.

The difference was that this time Smoltz (1-3) had runs to work with. The Braves pushed across three in the first inning against Pedro Martinez (2-1), matching the total they had scored for Smoltz in his first four starts.

St. Louis 5, Milwaukee 3 -- The Cardinals’ victory may have come at a cost at St. Louis.

Jason Isringhausen left because of a strained right abdominal muscle in the ninth inning. Isringhausen minimized the injury, but members of the front office discussed what to do if the closer is put on the disabled list.

Washington 3, Philadelphia 1 -- Brad Wilkerson hit the first upper-deck home run at Washington’s RFK Stadium in 34 years, leading the Nationals past the Phillies.

Wilkerson pulled a two-run shot down the right-field line and into the front row of Section 470 in the fifth inning. Although it lacked the power of Frank Howard’s blasts for the old Senators -- the landing spots are still marked by white seats in deep left-center -- Wilkerson’s homer broke a 1-1 tie against Jon Lieber (4-1).

San Francisco 6, San Diego 5 -- J.T. Snow matched his career high with four hits and drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning to lead the Giants at San Francisco.

Florida 9, Colorado 3 -- Josh Beckett had a two-run double in Florida’s five-run seventh inning at Denver and improved to 4-1.

Cincinnati 11, Chicago 9 -- Ken Griffey, who entered with only three runs batted in, had a three-run double and a sacrifice fly in the Reds’ victory at Chicago.

Houston at Pittsburgh, ppd. -- The game was postponed because of a forecast of evening-long rain and was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on July 19.