A Houston Astros shutout at Enron Field. John Smoltz relieving Greg Maddux. It was a day of firsts in the National League.
Shane Reynolds and two relievers combined on Houston's first shutout in 1 1/2 seasons at its new home as the Astros beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0 Sunday.
"Wow. That's good," Reynolds said. "Everybody knows this is a hitter's ballpark, but there have been some good games pitched against us and we've pitched some good games."
It was Houston's first home shutout since Oct. 2, 1999, the second-to-last regular season game at the Astrodome. The Astros have been blanked three times at Enron.
In Atlanta, Smoltz made his first career regular-season relief appearance, finishing off Maddux's ninth straight win as the Braves beat Montreal 8-2.
Jeff Bagwell hit his sixth homer in 10 games as the Astros moved within two games of the first-place Cubs in the NL Central with the rare shutout.
Reynolds (9-9) allowed three hits and no walks in seven innings to snap his four-game losing streak. Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner finished the five-hitter, with Wagner getting his 22nd save in 23 chances.
Smoltz, activated before the game from the disabled list, pitched a perfect ninth in his relief debut. After making the first 361 regular-season appearances of his career as a starter, the 34-year-old right-hander has been moved to the bullpen. Smoltz did pitch in relief in the 1999 postseason.
Maddux (13-5) allowed two runs and nine hits in eight innings. He is 9-0 with a 2.33 ERA in his last 10 starts, lowering his overall ERA to 2.43.
PHILLIES 3, METS 2: Bobby Abreu hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth off John Franco (4-2), the first homer by a left-handed batter off Franco since Pittsburgh's Dave Clark connected on Sept. 22, 1993.
Jose Santiago (1-2) won it and Jose Mesa worked the ninth for his 26th save as host Philadelphia remained two games behind NL East-leading Atlanta.
DIAMONDBACKS 12, GIANTS 4: Matt Williams got three hits, scored three runs and exchanged insults with Giants manager Dusty Baker during a bench-clearing scuffle that began after Chad Zerbe was ejected for throwing a pitch behind Williams.
Arizona has won five of six at San Francisco this season.
PIRATES 2, CARDINALS 0: At St. Louis, Jimmy Anderson took a shutout into the ninth inning, and Keith Osik, in a 3-for-36 slide, snapped a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the ninth off Mike Timlin (3-5).
PADRES 4, BREWERS 0: Tony Gwynn hit a two-run double, and Bobby Jones (6-12) pitched five-hit ball for seven innings at San Diego.
Ryan Klesko had a two-run homer off Jimmy Haynes (6-13) as the Brewers lost their ninth straight.
MARLINS 11, REDS 7: A.J. Burnett (8-5) won his third straight start, allowing four runs and eight hits in five innings for host Florida.
Charles Johnson, Dave Berg, Derrek Lee and Eric Owens each had two RBIs for Florida.
DODGERS 9, ROCKIES 8: Shawn Green hit a two-run homer, and Gary Sheffield and Mark Grudzielanek also had two RBIs for visiting Los Angeles.
The Dodgers won for the eighth time in nine games, while the fading Rockies lost for the 25th time in 30 games.