Glavine, Maddux Inch Closer To Landmark Victories

Tom Glavine nearly made history for the New York Mets, and Greg Maddux turned in another routine outing, outperforming someone nearly half his age again. <br/><br/>Glavine earned his 297th win, pitching

Thursday, June 28th 2007, 7:44 am

By: News On 6

Tom Glavine nearly made history for the New York Mets, and Greg Maddux turned in another routine outing, outperforming someone nearly half his age again.

Glavine earned his 297th win, pitching one-hit ball for six innings in a rain-shortened shutout to lead New York past the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 on Wednesday night.

Scott Rolen's second-inning infield single was the only hit off Glavine, who nearly gave Mets their first no-hitter _ albeit a shortened one.

``He wants it the real way. He don't want the asterisk by it,'' teammate David Wright said. ``He'll live. He'll take the win I'm sure.''

At San Francisco, Maddux allowed one run in seven innings to earn his 340th victory, leading the San Diego Padres past the Giants 4-2.

Maddux (7-4) won for the fourth time in five decisions, getting help from Jose Cruz Jr.'s go-ahead single in the eighth inning against his former team. That followed a two-out double by Marcus Giles.

``It'll always be kind of cool,'' he said of pitching in San Francisco. ``I like the city. It's a nice park.''

At Philadelphia, Phillies slugger Ryan Howard hit his 100th career homer in his 325th game, becoming the fastest player to reach that mark in major league history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. But the Phillies lost to the Reds, 9-6.

In other NL games Tuesday, it was: Arizona 2, Los Angeles 0; Chicago 6, Colorado 4; Atlanta 13, Washington 0; Milwaukee 6, Houston 3 in 11 innings; and Pittsburgh 7, Florida 5 in 10 innings.

At New York, Wright hit a two-run homer off winless Anthony Reyes (0-10) in the first, and the NL East leaders made it stand up for their fifth victory in six games.

Glavine has won consecutive outings after going 0-4 in five starts from May 24 to June 16. He walked two and struck out one in his 25th career shutout.

``It's a lot of me making better pitches and a little bit of me having better luck,'' he said.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner is closing in on becoming the 22nd major league pitcher to win 300 games.

The 41-year-old Maddux won an intriguing duel against one of the majors' top up-and-coming power pitchers in 22-year-old Matt Cain (2-9).

``He's not afraid to pitch from behind,'' Cain said of Maddux. ``He can throw every pitch. When he first came into the league, he was throwing 90 mph. He had to learn how to pitch later on. He's amazing.''

Trevor Hoffman finished for his 503rd career save and 21st in 23 chances this season. Barry Bonds was on deck as a pinch hitter when Mark Sweeney grounded out to end the game.

Diamondbacks 2, Dodgers 0

Brandon Webb pitched seven shutout innings despite having some control problems to lead host Arizona.

Chad Tracy hit a sacrifice fly and Eric Byrnes singled in a run for the Diamondbacks, who beat the Dodgers for only the second time in eight games.

Webb (8-5) struck out three, allowed seven hits and issued a season-high five walks. Jose Valverde got four outs for his 25th save in 28 chances, pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth.

Derek Lowe (8-7) allowed two runs _ one earned _ and five hits in 6 2-3 innings for the Dodgers.

Cubs 6, Rockies 4

Carlos Zambrano won for the fourth time in five starts, and host Chicago extended its longest winning streak in two years to six games.

Mark DeRosa hit a three-run homer and Mike Fontenot added a solo shot for the Cubs.

Zambrano (9-6) allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, improving to 4-1 since his dugout and clubhouse fight with former teammate Michael Barrett on June 1. Carlos Marmol struck out two in a perfect ninth for his first career save, finishing a six-hitter.

Jason Hirsh (3-7) gave up five runs and five hits in six innings for Colorado, loser a season-high six straight since sweeping three games from the New York Yankees.

Braves 13, Nationals 0

Chipper Jones drove in four runs and host Atlanta had a season-high 22 hits to back a strong start from John Smoltz.

Smoltz (9-4) struck out seven and walked one, leaving for a pinch runner in the fifth after throwing only 89 pitches. Oscar Villareal, Wilfredo Ledezma and Chad Paronto combined to go the final four innings.

Micah Bowie (4-3) allowed six runs and nine hits in 3 1-3 innings for Washington.

Brewers 6, Astros 3, 11 innings

Damian Miller hit his first homer of the season, a three-run shot that sailed into the Milwaukee bullpen in the 11th inning and lifted the Brewers to the win.

The Brewers finished up an 8-1 homestand and improved the NL's best record to 46-32.

Houston went 2-7 on its road trip, and was swept by Milwaukee in a three-game series for the first time.

Miller launched a one-out homer to left-center off Dave Borkowski (1-3) that was speared on the fly by Brewers bullpen catcher Marcus Hanel.

Dave Bush (6-6) pitched the final two innings in his first relief appearance of the season after making 15 starts.

Pirates 7, Marlins 5, 10 innings

Xavier Nady and Ryan Doumit hit back-to-back home runs with two outs in the 10th inning and the Pirates won consecutive road games for the first time in a month.

Marlins reliever Kevin Gregg (0-3) retired the first two hitters in the 10th. Then Nady hit his second solo homer of the game to give Pittsburgh a 6-5 lead. Four pitches later, Doumit followed with his homer on a 1-2 count.

Shawn Chacon (4-1) pitched 1 2-3 innings and Matt Capps worked the 10th to earn his seventh save.

Hanley Ramirez homered for the Marlins, who have lost four straight games overall and 11 of their last 14 home games.

Reds 9, Phillies 6

Javier Valentin hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the eighth inning and Adam Dunn added a two-run homer for visiting Cincinnati.

Marcus McBeth (2-1) got two outs in the seventh to get the win and David Weathers worked two scoreless innings for his 15th save in 17 chances.

After the Phillies tied it at 6 in the bottom half of the seventh, the Reds answered in the eighth against Brian Sanches (1-1). Edwin Encarnacion was hit by a pitch leading off the inning and advanced on Alex Gonzalez's sacrifice. Valentin then ripped a double to right to put the Reds ahead for good.