Braves’ Colon Has the Upper Hand

With his first victory as a starter, Atlanta’s Roman Colon stole the spotlight from Chicago’s Greg Maddux, who already has 312 wins.

Colon, making only his third start, gave up seven hits in seven innings to beat Maddux, 5-1, in his much-anticipated return to Atlanta and hand the Cubs their sixth consecutive loss.

Colon (1-4), a right-hander, pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning that preceded a rain delay of 1 hour 59 minutes.

“That was awesome,” Colon said. “You have to keep the game as close as you can.”

Maddux (7-6), making his 622nd start and first appearance in Atlanta since leaving the Braves to sign with the Cubs after the 2003 season, gave up eight hits and five runs in six innings.

Cub first baseman Derrek Lee, who leads the major leagues with a .378 average, left in the third inning because of irritation in his left shoulder and will be examined today.

Marcus Giles was three for four with three runs batted in, including a two-run double in a four-run fifth.

In the seventh, the Cubs loaded the bases on singles by Aramis Ramirez, Todd Hollandsworth and Henry Blanco. With one out, Colon struck out pinch-hitter Jose Macias and ended the inning on a fly ball by Neifi Perez.

“I definitely think the guy today was Roman,” Giles said. “He just tightened up his belt a little bit in that situation and that shows you a lot about him.”

The Braves (47-37) moved 10 games over .500 for the first time this season. Atlanta has won four of five and 14 of 19.

Maddux, who won three Cy Young Awards with the Braves from 1993 to 2003, received a loud ovation when the starting lineups were introduced and before his first at-bat.

“That was nice,” he said. “It’s nice not to be forgotten.”