Braves Stand Pat at 20 and Easily Defeat Rockies

The Atlanta Braves managed to make Greg Maddux an afterthought Sunday, and that’s not easy.

Andruw Jones went five for six with a home run, triple and a career-high six RBIs, and the Braves set an Atlanta record for runs by routing the Colorado Rockies, 20-5, at Denver.

“I don’t mind at all getting a win like this one,” Maddux said. “That’s normally what I’d get in an entire month.”

With a 10-run ninth inning, Atlanta topped its previous high of 19 runs, set against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on April 15, 1994. The franchise record since 1900 is 23 by the Milwaukee Braves against the Cubs on Sept. 2, 1957.

The Braves had 24 hits, one short of the Atlanta record and two shy of the franchise mark. Eddie Perez also went five for six and Randall Simon went three for three with his first major league homer. Brian Jordan, Chipper Jones and Brian Hunter also homered for Atlanta.

Andruw Jones hit an infield single in the first, a two-run homer in the third, a single in the fourth, an RBI single in the eighth and a two-run triple in the ninth.

Houston 8, St. Louis 4--Mark McGwire’s fifth home run wasn’t enough for the St. Louis Cardinals at Houston.

Carl Everett hit a solo homer and an RBI single in a six-run eighth inning and Jeff Bagwell added a two-run single as the Astros rallied past the Cardinals to avoid a three-game sweep.

St. Louis is 1-3 when McGwire has homered this season. McGwire, who has hit his homers in 11 games, is ahead of the pace he set on the way to a record 70 last year, when he didn’t get No. 5 until the team’s 13th game.

Philadelphia 7, Florida 2--Rico Brogna tripled to key a six-run first inning at Philadelphia and Carlton Loewer pitched the first complete game of the season for the Philles.

Loewer (1-1) gave up eight hits, walked none and struck out five. Her also had two hits, including an RBI single that capped the big first inning.

Chicago 6, Milwaukee 5--Jose Hernandez hit a home run leading off the 10th inning for the Cubs at Milwaukee.

Sammy Sosa’s double set up pinch-hitter Manny Alexander’s two-out, two-run double in the ninth. The Brewers tied the score in the bottom half on RBI singles by Fernando Vina and Marquis Grissom.

Montreal 4, New York 2--Jose Vidro and Rondell White both homered in the first inning at New York as Montreal overcame two homers by John Olerud.

Javier Vazquez (1-1) had little trouble with the rest of the Met lineup, giving up two runs, five hits and one walk in seven innings.

Pittsburgh 4, Cincinnati 2--Mike Benjamin tripled and scored the go-ahead run when Dennis Reyes mishandled a ninth-inning comebacker at Cincinnati.

Arizona 12, San Francisco 3--Luis Gonzalez and Bernard Gilkey homered during a seven-run seventh inning at Phoenix.