Johnson Makes Few Mistakes

The Arizona Diamondbacks gave Randy Johnson plenty of offensive support.

Johnson pitched a five-hitter to win his 17th game and Steve Finley homered twice to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 7-0 win over the Montreal Expos on Wednesday night at Montreal.

Johnson (17-5), coming off his first no-strikeout game in 11 years, struck out 10 in his third shutout of the season and 28th of his career.

“I felt like every time I got our offense back out there, we were able to get a few more runs,� Johnson said. “As a starting pitcher, when you go out there and get runs, it’s a lot easier to go out there and feel like you can make a mistake, if it should be made.�

Finley hit a two-run homer off Felipe Lira (3-5) to cap a four-run first. He added a solo homer in the fifth--his 33rd--for his third two-homer game of the season, the 17th multihomer game of his career.

Luis Gonzalez hit his career-best 27th homer leading off the third to put Arizona ahead, 5-0. Gonzalez hit 26 homers last season.

New York 1, Houston 0--Rick Reed and two relievers combined on a three-hitter to make an early run stand up at New York.

The Mets, a major league-best 31-16 since the All-Star game, remained tied with Atlanta for first in the East at 79-54.

Chris Holt (6-13) walked Benny Agbayani in the first and gave up a single to Darryl Hamilton. Agbayani advanced when Edgardo Alfonzo grounded into a double play and came home when Holt bounced a wild pitch with Mike Piazza batting.

New York, tied with Atlanta since Monday night, improved to 26-15 in one-run games.

Atlanta 5, Cincinnati 2--Tom Glavine pitched a three-hitter to become the NL’s first 18-game winner, Andres Galarraga hit a two-run homer and the Braves ended a four-game losing streak at Atlanta.

Glavine (18-6) won for the 11th time in 12 starts as he closes in on the fifth 20-win season of his career. The left-hander retired the last 11 hitters for his third complete game of the season and 48th overall.

St. Louis 4, Florida 2--Will Clark homered in the second inning and added an RBI double in the ninth at Miami.

Jim Edmonds snapped an 0-for-21 streak with a single in the sixth.

Colorado 5, Philadelphia 4--Rookie Ben Petrick hit a solo homer in the 11th inning at Philadelphia.

Todd Helton went one for four with a walk. His batting average dropped a point to .395.

Chicago 5, San Diego 1--Sammy Sosa homered twice at Chicago to raise his major league-leading total to 45. The Cubs won for the fifth time in 19 games and won consecutive games for the first time since a three-game streak July 29-31.