Maddux earns 200th victory; McGwire, Sosa go homerless

While Greg Maddux reached a milestone, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were stalled.

Maddux became the 94th pitcher in major-league history to win 200 games, pitching seven strong innings Tuesday night in the Atlanta Braves' 8-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants.Maddux (16-6) improved his career record to 200-114 - including 105-39 during six seasons in Atlanta. He also lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.65.

In Chicago, McGwire and Sosa combined to go 0-for-9 and struck out three times each as the Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1.

The pair remained stuck on 47 homers, 14 short of Roger Maris' record.

"I just have to say that not every day am I going to come over here and hit a home run," Sosa said. "I hit one today, but it was foul. I wish it had stayed fair. It doesn't count.

"But that's what the fans come to the park to see - Mark McGwire and myself. Every time we go out there, they are standing and waiting for something."

BRAVES 8, GIANTS 4: The Braves had nine hits - all doubles. Gerald Williams, Danny Bautista and Walt Weiss each produced a pair of two-base hits, and catcher Eddie Perez sealed the victory in the seventh with a three-run double.

San Francisco dropped three games behind the New York Mets and Chicago in the NL wild-card race.

CUBS 4, CARDINALS 1: The Cubs got three RBIs from .200-hitting catcher Scott Servais - all on infield grounders - and four hits from Jose Hernandez as Steve Trachsel (13-6) won for the seventh time in eight decisions.

With runners at the corners and one out in the ninth, Rod Beck came on and struck out both McGwire and Ray Lank-ford for his 37th save as the crowd went wild.

METS 6, ROCKIES 2 (1ST); METS 6, ROCKIES 3 (2ND): Al Leiter (12-4) shut down Colorado for eight innings in the opener and Mike Piazza hit a go-ahead, three-run double in the second game.

New York (68-55), which has swept four of five doubleheaders this year, has won eight of 11 and moved ahead of the Chicago Cubs (69-56) by less than a percentage point in the NL wild-card race.

PADRES 7, MARLINS 5: Greg Vaughn became the fourth player to reach 40 homers this season and Quilvio Veras broke a 5-all tie when he scored on Mike Redmond's passed ball in the eighth. Florida had rallied from a 5-0 deficit.