Greg Maddux hung on for his 277th career victory while former teammate Tom Glavine gave up a career-high four home runs in their first-ever matchup as the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets 5-2 Friday night.

Gary Sheffield, Chipper Jones, Julio Franco and Mark DeRosa hit solo homers in Atlanta's third straight win.

The much-anticipated meeting between the Cy Young Award winners fizzled from the start. Glavine was tagged for a solo homer by Sheffield in the first and Maddux allowed five hits in the bottom half of the inning.

Maddux (4-5) was pulled after five innings and 83 pitches, giving up two runs and seven hits. Glavine (5-5) lost to his old team for the second time in a week, leaving after allowing five runs and nine hits in seven innings and remaining stuck on 247 wins.

PIRATES 7, CARDINALS 3: Kenny Lofton homered to extend his hitting streak to 26 games and Jeff Suppan snapped his five-game losing streak as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3 Friday night. Lofton hit his sixth homer on the first pitch of the third from Garrett Stephenson (3-4) to match Boston's Nomar Garciaparra for the longest hitting streak in the major leagues this season. Randall Simon added a two-run shot in the second and Aramis Ramirez was 3-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 13 games for the Pirates, who have won four of five. Craig Wilson had a two-run double and Jeff Reboulet had a squeeze bunt in a three-run sixth.

The Pirates are only 11-27 against the Cardinals the last three seasons.

REDS 4, MARLINS 3, 11 innings: Ken Griffey Jr. hit a game-tying solo homer in the ninth inning and a go-ahead shot in the top of the 11th to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 victory over the Florida Marlins on Friday night. Griffey won the game with a 402-foot drive to right field with two outs in the 11th against Armando Almanza (3-4). Griffey's second multihomer game of the season gave him six overall this year.

After Florida went ahead 3-2 in the eighth inning when Todd Hollandsworth doubled and later scored on reliever Kent Mercker's throwing error, Griffey tied it in the ninth against Braden Looper.

Gabe White (3-0) pitched 1 1-3 innings for the win and Scott Williamson got two outs for his 12th save in 13 chances.

ASTROS 9, CUBS 1: Wade Miller pitched a career-best two-hitter and Brad Ausmus had a three-run double Friday as the Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs 9-1 in Sammy Sosa's first game since coming off the disabled list. A rusty Sosa, activated Friday after missing 17 games with a toe injury, went 0-for-4 and struck out three times. Miller (3-6), gave up a third-inning single to Damian Miller and Corey Patterson's 11th homer in the fifth. He struck out a career-high 14 and walked one in his first complete game this season.

Houston moved within a game of first-place Chicago in the NL Central.

PHILLIES 12, EXPOS 5: Jim Thome homered and drove in four runs, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 12-5 victory over the Montreal Expos on Friday night. Mike Lieberthal walked twice with the bases loaded and Bobby Abreu did it once to force in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning as the Phillies won for just the second time in six games. In all, Philadelphia walked eight times. Orlando Cabrera had two solo homers and three RBIs for Montreal, which has lost four of five.

In a rare wild outing, Expos starter Javier Vazquez (5-3) allowed five hits, seven runs — five earned — and a career-high six walks in 5 2-3 innings. He hadn't walked more than two batters in any of his previous 11 starts this season.

BREWERS 5, DODGERS 3: In Los Angeles, Eric Young hit a leadoff homer and Richie Sexson added a tiebreaking two-run shot as the Milwaukee Brewers beat longtime nemesis Hideo Nomo and the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 Friday night. Ben Sheets (5-4) allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings, helping Milwaukee beat Los Angeles for the first time in nine meetings and ending the Dodgers' seven-game home winning streak. Sheets won for the first time in four starts, striking out seven.

Young also made the defensive play of the game, robbing Fred McGriff of an RBI single in the eighth with a diving stop toward his right and throwing him out.

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Mike DeJean got three outs for his 11th save, sending the Dodgers to their fourth straight loss after 10 consecutive victories.

Nomo (6-5) allowed four runs and four hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walking none for the first time in 12 starts.

DIAMONDBACKS 8, PADRES 3: In San Diego, Curt Schilling had a problem with comebackers Friday night, not the strike zone. In his first start since attacking a machine used to evaluate umpires, Schilling left after 6 2/3 scoreless innings as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat San Diego 8-3, the Padres' 14th loss in 16 games. Schilling (4-3) was working on a three-hitter with four strikeouts and no walks when he left after Sean Burroughs grounded out with two outs in the seventh. The right-hander had thrown just 64 pitches, 50 for strikes.

GIANTS 6, ROCKIES 2: In San Francisco, rookie Kurt Ainsworth got a career-best eight strikeouts while pitching into the seventh inning as the San Francisco Giants beat Colorado 6-2 Friday night, snapping the Rockies' five-game winning streak. Rich Aurilia homered and drove in two runs as San Francisco began a four-game series against its NL West rivals with plenty of solid pitching and timely hitting. The Giants are unbeaten after three games of a 12-game homestand. Ray Durham, Benito Santiago and Andres Galarraga had run-scoring singles as the Giants took control in the fifth.

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