NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Maddux Finally Loses, 9-3

The Atlanta Braves’ Greg Maddux is one of baseball’s best pitchers, but it might be difficult to convince the Cincinnati Reds.

Maddux’s 10-game winning streak ended as Benito Santiago hit a three-run homer to lead the Reds to a 9-3 victory Wednesday at Atlanta in a battle of division leaders.

Maddux (12-2) had not lost since May 17, a span of 14 starts.

“I haven’t had this feeling since May,” Maddux said, “but looking back I was fortunate to win 10 straight. It would have been nice to match Tom Glavine’s record [13 consecutive victories in 1992], but I can’t be too upset.”

Maddux gave up five runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings and his earned-run average rose from a league-leading 1.74 to 1.96. He walked a season-high five and struck out eight to drop to 8-10 lifetime against the Reds. He also threw his first wild pitch since April 14, 1994.

“I’ve been catching Greg Maddux for two years and I can count on one finger the number of times he’s had control trouble,” catcher Charlie O’Brien said.

Cincinnati, which passed Atlanta for the NL’s best record at 60-33, won for the seventh time in eight games behind Dave Burba (6-2).

Florida 2, Colorado 1--Kurt Abbott had three hits, including an inside-the-park home run, driving in both runs at Miami as the Marlins won for the 10th time in 12 games.

John Burkett, 6-1 in his career against Colorado, evened his season mark at 10-10.

Abbott’s homer came against losing pitcher Kevin Ritz (9-7).

Eric Young’s base hit in the fourth inning for Colorado extended his career-best hitting streak to 18 games, but teammate Dante Bichette saw his 19-game streak come to an end.

San Francisco 4, Pittsburgh 3--Glenallen Hill’s two-run homer in the seventh inning gave the Giants the victory at San Francisco.

It came after Hill had broken a bat in each of his first three appearances at the plate.

Hill’s 16th home run, off losing pitcher Jason Christiansen (1-2), denied hard-luck starting pitcher Paul Wagner a chance to improve on his 1-11 record. The Pirates have scored only 32 runs in the 101 2/3 innings Wagner has pitched this season.

Orlando Merced drove in all three Pittsburgh runs.

New York 4, Philadelphia 0--Rookie Jason Isringhausen (2-1), making only his fourth major league start, pitched eight shutout innings at Philadelphia, leading New York to its fourth victory in a row.

The Phillies lost their season-high seventh in a row and dropped to .500 (48-48) for the first time since May 3, when they were 3-3. The Phillies, who were 19 games over .500 (37-18) on June 25, have lost 30 of their last 41.

Paul Quantrill (9-7) lost for the fifth time in his last six decisions.

Montreal 6, Houston 5--The Expos unleashed a 16-hit attack at Houston that included three hits each from Tim Laker and F.P. Santangelo and a key two-run double by Mike Lansing. Lansing is batting .371 in his last 23 games.

Pedro Martinez (10-7) beat Greg Swindell (7-6).