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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ATLANTA (AP) -- This was the Greg Maddux of the early and
mid-1990s. The guy who won four straight Cy Youngs with impeccable
control and great movement on his pitches. The guy who breezed
through games with a modicum of time and effort.
|  | | Curt Schilling was 3-0 with two shutouts in four previous starts against Atlanta. He lost his fourth straight start Thursday. |
Maddux pitched a four-hitter and helped out at the plate with a
two-run double as the Atlanta Braves completed a three-game sweep
of the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 4-0 victory Thursday night.
"He was unhittable," manager Bobby Cox said. "The way his
ball was moving and (with) his off-speed stuff, he was in complete
control. Nothing but strikes."
Maddux (16-8) was perfect through 4 2-3 innings, finally having
to work from the stretch when shortstop Rafael Furcal bobbled a
grounder by Matt Williams and threw the ball away for an error.
Danny Bautista followed with the first hit, a single up the
middle, but Maddux retired Kelly Stinnett on a fly to center.
Bautista had two of Arizona's hits, also singling in the eighth.
Maddux was so good that even a shaky infield defense didn't faze
him. After Bautista's second hit, David Dellucci followed with an
easy double-play grounder that was botched by second baseman Keith
Lockhart for another error.
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Schilling vs. Maddux:
Past five head-to-head starts
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Schilling
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Maddux
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Wins
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4
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1
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ERA
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1.80
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1.00
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Earned runs
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8
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4
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Innings
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40
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36
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Strikeouts
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42
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25
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But Tony Womack followed with a two-hopper to Furcal, who
stepped on second and threw on to first for the inning-ending
double play.
"That was about as good as I've seen him pitch," said
Arizona's Greg Colbrunn, who had hit safely in 17 of his last 18
games but went 0-for-4 against Maddux. "It was his stuff and his
location. He put them both together. His movement, too."
Maddux gave up five first-inning runs in each of his last two
starts _ something that had not occurred in 10 years. This time, he
needed only seven pitches to get through the first, retiring the
side on three grounders.
"I was trying to make sure I kept that monkey out of my head,"
he said. "It wasn't that much difference really. I threw a couple
down the middle and they hit them at the shortstop instead of
bouncing them to the left fielder."
The first inning set the tone. Maddux got 18 groundouts and an
infield pop, struck out six and didn't walk anyone. He allowed only
two flies to reach the outfield in pitching his fifth complete game
and second shutout of the year.
Maddux threw only 90 pitches, 70 for strikes. The game lasted
only 2 hours, 20 minutes.
Arizona manager Buck Showalter left Turner Field shortly before
the first pitch to attend to a family matter in Florida. It wasn't
known when he'll rejoin the team, and coach Carlos Tosca filled in
as acting manager.
The Braves, whose sweep came after a stretch in which they lost
eight of 11 games, stretched their lead in the NL East to 2½ games
over idle New York. Arizona has lost 11 of 15 and dropped 5½ games
behind the Mets in the NL wild-card chase.
"If any other club had been out there, it would have been the
same," Tosca said. "I think the Yankees would have had trouble
hitting (Maddux) tonight. It looked like he was on a mission."
Curt Schilling (10-11) couldn't stop this slide, even though he
was facing a team he had dominated this season.
Schilling, who lost his fourth straight start, surrendered seven
hits and all four runs in six innings. He was 3-0 with two shutouts
in four previous starts against Atlanta.
"I had a chance to get out of every situation," he said. "I'm
just not performing. I'm just not doing my job."
The Braves broke it open with a three-run fourth, all of the
RBI generated by the bottom of the batting order with two outs.
Eighth-place hitter Paul Bako singled to right, driving in Wally
Joyner, and Maddux worked the count to 3-2 with two runners on
base.
Schilling grooved a fastball and his counterpart sent a liner
over Bautista's head in right field, clearing the bases.
The Braves went ahead 1-0 in the first with a two-out rally.
Chipper Jones walked, B.J. Surhoff singled and Joyner lined a hit
up the middle for the RBI.
"It was frustrating," Schilling said. "The bottom line is
that every run scored with two outs."
Game notes
With his 30th career shutout, Maddux passed Whitey Ford on
the victory list. Maddux is 237-134, while Ford was 236-106. ...
Surhoff left the game with a pulled right quadriceps after running
out his single in the first. He probably will miss several games,
Cox said. George Lombard, a late-season callup, played the rest of
the game in left. ... Diamondbacks second baseman Jay Bell was
ejected by first-base umpire Eric Cooper in the sixth after
appearing to beat out a grounder between shortstop and third.
Furcal fielded the ball and made a strong throw from the hole, but
TV replays showed Bell's foot was on the bag when the ball arrived.
Cooper called him out, Bell argued and was thrown out.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Arizona Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
Galarraga begins three-game suspension
RECAPS
Boston 11
Minnesota 6
Tampa Bay 4
Cleveland 3
Anaheim 6
Detroit 4
Seattle 8
Toronto 1
Chi. White Sox 10
Texas 6
NY Yankees 7
Kansas City 3
St. Louis 6
Montreal 1
Houston 7
Florida 3
Atlanta 4
Arizona 0
San Francisco 13
San Diego 0
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Greg Maddux got off to a good start in his complete-game shutout.
wav: 178 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Bobby Cox and the Braves felt they were due for a victory over Curt Schilling.
wav: 125 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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