Padres’ Kid Shows Up Braves’ Old Man

It seemed like a mismatch. Greg Maddux, the four-time Cy Young Award winner, pitching against Heath Murray, who was making his first major-league start.

“That’s the great thing about this game,” San Diego Manager Bruce Bochy said. “You never know.”

Murray pitched 6 1/3 innings for his first victory as the Padres beat Maddux and the Braves, 5-4, on Monday night at Atlanta.

The Padres, who broke a 2-2 tie with three runs in the fifth inning, stretched their winning streak to four.

Murray was 1-4 with 6.45 earned-run average in triple-A before he was called up by the Padres on May 22. After two relief appearances, the 24-year-old left-hander entered his first start with an 0-0 record and a 4.50 ERA, having given up 10 hits and five walks in six innings.

Maddux, on the other hand, had won six consecutive decisions since losing his opening start, and had a 1.57 ERA, second lowest in the National League.

“I just treated it like any other start,” Murray said. “That’s what it is. You can’t control who you’re going against. You just do what you’re going to do and hope your team can score some runs.”

Murray escaped a bases-loaded, none-out situation in the fourth inning, striking out Eddie Perez, getting Maddux on an infield pop and striking out Kenny Lofton to keep the score tied, 2-2.

“Even in high school, I loaded the bases a lot,” Murray said. “So I know how to work out of bad situations.”

San Diego then got to Maddux for three runs in the fifth inning. Craig Shipley singled, Tony Gwynn doubled and Steve Finley put the Padres ahead to stay with a sacrifice fly. Ken Caminiti singled in another run, and Wally Joyner hit a double over the head of Lofton in center field to make it 5-2.

Maddux (6-2) gave up nine hits and all five runs in seven innings, the most earned runs against him since June 7, 1996, and only the 15th time in 116 starts since the 1993 All-Star break that he has given up more than three earned runs in a game.

“I made some bad pitches and got hit, and I made some good pitches and got hit,” Maddux said. “They’ve got some good hitters. They don’t strike out a whole lot. They do pretty well with mistakes.”

Chicago 3, Pittsburgh 2--The joke was that the Cubs could not have a web site because they couldn’t put three W’s together. Click on today and you’ll find them on the Internet at www.cubs.com.

Brant Brown went three for three with a solo home run to lead the Cubs at Chicago, giving them their first three-game winning streak of the season.

Brown, recalled from triple-A Iowa on May 23, is eight for 13 over his last five games. His homer in the fourth inning tied it, 1-1.

Terry Mulholland (5-4) gave up four hits over seven innings for the victory, and Terry Adams worked the final two innings for his eighth save.

Colorado 11, St. Louis 7--Andres Galarraga is on a hot streak, but he still might end up on the bench soon.

Galarraga hit his fifth home run in seven games and drove in four runs as the Rockies beat the Cardinals at St. Louis. But he may be suspended later this week for charging the mound in a game against Florida on Saturday.

“I’m expecting to hear something from the league, and it won’t be good news,” Rocky Manager Don Baylor said. “It’ll be a shame if he gets suspended because he is in such a groove right now.”

Galarraga’s opposite-field, three-run homer in the fifth inning was measured at 426 feet, 103 feet shorter than his blast two days ago in Miami.

Galarraga said he wasn’t worried about what the league might do. “I can’t think about that,” he said. “I had to protect myself. He [pitcher Dennis Cook] tried to hurt me and I can’t let pitchers do that.”

Montreal 10, New York 0--Carlos Perez pitched a six-hitter for his second shutout and the visiting Expos ended the Mets’ four-game winning streak.

Pitching most of the game in a steady rain, Perez (5-4) recorded his first shutout since June 24, 1995, when he blanked Pittsburgh. The left-hander struck out three and walked one in his second complete game this season.

Perez left no doubt that he is fully recovered from a left rotator cuff injury that sidelined him all of last season.

“My arm doesn’t bother me, and I think I have all of my pitches just as I did before the operation,” he said. “I’m young and I think I can have a real good career.”

Joe Orsulak and Henry Rodriguez hit three-run home runs, Darrin Fletcher went three for five with a two-run homer, and rookie Vladimir Guerrero had a solo homer for Montreal.

Cincinnati at Philadelphia, ppd--The game was postponed because of rain and will be made up as part of a doubleheader Sept. 12.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Brant Brown

Team: Chicago

Performance: Went 3 for 3, HR

Team’s Result: Won

*

Player: A. Galarraga

Team: Colorado

Performance: Hit 15th HR, 4 RBI

Team’s Result: Won

*

Player: Bobby Bonilla

Team: Florida

Performance: 2 for 3, 2 RBIs, now hitting .342

Team’s Result: Won

PITCHING

Player: Heath Murray

Team: San Diego

Performance: First major-league start, 7 hits, 4 runs

Team’s Result: Won

*

Player: Donne Wall

Team: Houston

Performance: 7 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 9 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Won

*

Player: Al Leiter

Team: Florida

Performance: 7 innings, 4 hits, 0 runs, 5 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Won