Braves Rally to Defeat the Giants, 7-6

Playing like a team fighting for a playoff spot, the Braves rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning Monday to defeat the San Francisco Giants, 7-6, at Atlanta.

Julio Franco tied the score with an RBI triple and Andruw Jones followed with a game-winning single off Giant closer Dustin Hermanson.

“We take every game like it’s our last game,” Jones said.

“Especially when they give us opportunities like they gave us today. Every opportunity we have to win games, we’ve got to take advantage.”

The Braves improved their record against the NL West this month to 13-4 after taking three of four from the Giants.

Barry Bonds was not in the starting lineup a day after he hit two of the three longest home runs in Turner Field history.

He pinch-hit in the ninth and grounded out against Roman Colon (1-0) to end the inning.

J.D. Drew, who went three for four with a three-run homer, started the ninth-inning rally with a single. Franco followed with another shot to right that rolled past Ricky Ledee for a tying triple.

“Not bad for an old man,” the 46-year-old Franco said after his second triple of the season.

“You might never see that again.”

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Chicago 5, Montreal 2 -- Greg Maddux threw seven shutout innings at Montreal for his 302nd win and Cub Manager Dusty Baker earned his 1,000th victory.

Maddux (13-8) gave up five hits, struck out two and walked none.

Chicago, swept by Houston in three straight at home over the weekend, regained the NL wild-card lead, moving a half-game ahead of idle San Diego.

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Florida 6, New York 4 -- Damion Easley, starting because of an injury to Luis Castillo, hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning at New York to extend the Marlins’ winning streak to four.

Florida overcame a shaky outing by Dontrelle Willis, who gave up three homers for the first time in his career, including one to Mike Piazza in his return from the disabled list.

Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer and Juan Pierre had four hits for the Marlins, who remained four games back of the wild card-leading Cubs and also trail San Diego and San Francisco.

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Houston 11, Cincinnati 3 -- Brad Ausmus hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth inning and drove in a season-high four runs at Cincinnati.

Lance Berkman homered twice and drove in four runs for the Astros, who won for the seventh time in eight games.

Pete Munro (3-5) went five-plus innings to win for the first time in seven starts since July 25. He gave up three runs and eight hits, and struck out a season-high six.

Adam Dunn hit his 40th homer for the Reds, and Felipe Lopez added a two-run shot.

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Pittsburgh 5, Milwaukee 1 -- Daryle Ward homered twice and had five RBIs at Milwaukee as the Brewers lost their 12th in a row.

Milwaukee tied its NL record for consecutive losses, and has scored only seven runs in its last five games.

The Brewer franchise mark for consecutive losses is 14 in 1994, when the team played in the American League.

Josh Fogg (9-9) gave up five hits in 6 2/3 shutout innings.

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

Detroit 9, Kansas City 1 -- Craig Monroe homered twice and drove in five runs and Nate Robertson pitched his first career complete game in the Tigers’ victory over the Royals at Kansas City, Mo.

Ivan Rodriguez hit a two-run homer for the Tigers, who ended a four-game losing streak and sent the Royals to their 10th loss in 12 games.

Robertson (12-7) gave up one run and six hits in becoming the first Tiger left-hander to win 12 games in seven years. He had seven strikeouts and no walks.

Justin Thompson won 15 games for the Tigers in 1997.

Rodriguez, who missed the previous three games with flu-like symptoms, hit a two-run shot in the third to make it 4-0.

It was Rodriguez’s 17th homer and the 1,000th run he has scored in his career.

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NL Wild-Card Race

*--* W L GB Chicago 72 59 -- San Diego 71 59 1/2 San Francisco 72 61 1 Florida 67 62 4 Houston 68 63 4

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