IOB - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - September 20, 1999 THE PENNANT RACES .; Mets still one back as Braves slap Montreal I' AP PHOTO The Braves' Kevin Miliwod threw a complete game to beat the Expos yesterday, and kept the Braves a game ahead of the Mets in the NL East. ATLANTA (AP)- Kevin Millwood won his career-high 18th game, Freddy Garcia homered in his first at-bat for Atlanta and the Braves maintained their hold on first in the NL East with a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Expos yesterday. Millwood (18-7) allowed just seven hits; the only run was a fifth-inning homer by Geoff Blum. Garcia homered to lead off the third against Ted Lilly (0-1). The Braves added two in the fourth. Jose Hernandez hit a run-scoring dou- ble, while Brian Hunter recieved an RBI double when Vladimir Guerrero misplayed a popup. Hernandez doubled again in the sixth, scoring Andruw Jones from first, and Braves added their final run when Blum botched an attempted pickoff throw at second. Gerald Williams came around to score on the two-base error. Lilly allowed five hits and four runs in 5 2-3 innings. He struck out seven. NEw YORK 8, PHILADELPHIA 6: John Olerud and Mike Piazza hit consecu- tive home runs and the Mets overcame a bad inning by Kenny Rogers to beat the Phillies 8-6 Sunday. Olerud drove in four runs. Roger Cedeno also homered for the Mets, scored three times and stole his 65th base. Octavio Dotel (8-2) retired four batters to get the win. Rogers, who left with a strained hamstring, retired the first 12 batters he faced before allowing the Phillies to take the lead in a six-run fifth. Rogers allowed six hits in the inning, including a two-run homer by Rico Brogna and a two-run single by Bobby Abreu. Armando Benitez got the save. Facing a two-run deficit, the Mscored three runs in the fifth off Paul Byrd (14-10) and reliever Cliff Politte. PIRATEs 8, CINCINNAtT 5: Brian Giles hit his 38th and 39th homers to drive in three runs and the Pirates dealt Cincinnati's playoff hopes another set- back, winning 8-5 Sunday behind Jason Schmidt. The Reds now sit four games back of, the Mets in the NL Wildcard race. Starter Pete Harnisch (14-10) walked three and hit a batter - breaking Ed Sprague's left hand -- in three innings. Al Martin and Mike Benjamin sin- gled ahead of Kevin Young's walk. Harnisch then hit Sprague, scoring Martin. Sprague is out for the season. Schmidt (13-10) yielded five hits and three runs, two earned, in seven innings. Greg Vaughn doubled and scored on Ed Taubensee's ground-out in the sec ond, Giles homered and Young added another two pitches later. Pirates reliever Brad Clontz got the save. HoUsTON 4, ST. Louis 3: Looks like Mark McGwire is all warmed up for Sammy Sosa and Wrigley Field. Jeff Bagwell's two-run shot in the seventh helped the Astros avoid a three-game sweep Sunday with a victo- ry over the St. Louis Cardinals. After striking out in the firs McGwire hit a two-run homer off Chris .Holt (5-13) in the fourth. Roll-over Tigers have Sox thinking pennant Apply on the web and get up to *ZI of FREE calling time. * " *S of FREE calling time just for applying. * Apply on the internet and get an additional *E of FREE calling time when you make your first purchase. (*S if you apply by phone.) www.gtecard.com or 1-888-591-7900 " Get a S% rebate towards calling on all purchases.t " No annual fee. * No credit history required. Bret Saberhagen gave up just two hits to the punch- less Tigers yes- terday. His team- mate, Derek Lowe wants his teammates to think of themse- leves as three games behind the Yankees for the ALEast title, rather than four- and-a-half games up on the A's for the Wildcard. AP PHOTO BOSTON (AP) - Forget about the wild card. The Red Sox have their sights on something bigger. "I don't hear one person talk about the wild card," said Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe, who earned his 14th save in yesterday's 7-3 victory over Detroit. "I think when you settle for the wild card, you sell yourself short." Nomar Garciaparra homered to help stop Dave Mlicki's eight-game win streak, and Trot Nixon also homered as the Red Sox won their fifth consec- utive game. The victory kept Boston three games behind the AL East-lead- ing Yankees, who beat Cleveland 11-7. "They're playing with a lot of moxie right now," Tigers manager Larry Parrish said of the Red Sox, who remained 4 1/2 games ahead of Oakland in the wild-card race. The Athletics beat Kansas City 12-3. Tim Wakefield (6-10) walked one and struck out three in 5 2-3 innings for only his second win in seven starts since May 28. He allowed just four hits, but three were solo homers. Mlicki (13-1 1) lasted just four innings, allowing six runs on eight hits and five walks while striking out three. The last Detroit pitcher to win eight consecutive starts was Doyle Alexander in 1987. The Tigers' record for victories in consecutive starts is 11, set by Earl Whitehill in 1930 and matched by Hal Newhouser in 1947. Juan Encarnacion homered twice for the Tigers - the first multi-homer game of his career - giving him 18 for the season. Garciaparra went 9-for-12 in the series, including homers in the last twP games, to raise his league-leading bat- ting average to .360. The Red Sox have won 20 of 25 games. Detroit, which has lost four straight, made it 2-0 when Dean Palmer and Encarnacion hit solo homers in the second inning. But Boston took a 4-2 lead with four consecutive singles to lead off the bottom half, including a two-run base hit by Wilton Veras. Encarnacion hit his second homer.i the fourth to make it 4-3. But Boston answered again in the bottom half when Jason Varitek doubled and scored on Garciaparra's 25th homer of the season. Nixon added his 15th homer, a solo shot in the seventh to make it 7-3. OAKLAND 12, KANSAS CITY 3: Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada both homered and drove in three runs Sunday as the Oakland Athletic defeated the Kansas City Royals 12-3: Gil Heredia (13-7) allowed three, runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out five. Kansas City starter Mac Suzuki last- ed five innings, allowing three runs and five hits. Tejada doubled to lead the sixth against Chris Fussell (0-5) and took third on Eric Chavez's groundout. In the seventh, Jason Giambi had RBI double, Olmedo Saenz's sing drove in a run and Fussell left after hit- ting Tejada to load the bases. Chavez greeted Scott Service with a two-run single, Macfarlane hit a sacr- fice fly and Randy Velarde singled home a run. r,. 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