Braves Top Expos, Head To NY

The Atlanta Braves gave themselves a little momentum to take into Shea Stadium.

Terry Mulholland kept up his mastery of the Montreal Expos and Brian Jordan hit a pair of RBI singles to lead Atlanta to a 7-4 victory Wednesday night.

The NL East-leading Braves, just 12-14 in June, split their two-game series with Montreal and headed to New York for their highly anticipated four-game series with the Mets.

"We've won the last two series and split one, so we're doing fine," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said.

The visit to Shea Stadium will mark reliever John Rocker's first trip to New York since making disparaging remarks about the city's diverse population.

Rocker warmed up in the ninth inning to boos that began in the stands near the Braves' bullpen down the left-field line and quickly spread throughout the 12,653 on hand at Olympic Stadium.

Mulholland (8-6) improved to 17-4 lifetime against the Expos. He pitched 8 1-3 innings and allowed 11 hits, leaving after Fernando Seguignol's RBI single made it 7-4.

"It's just one of those unexplained things," Mulholland said. "I go out there on this mound and I feel comfortable, I executed my pitches, and the guys played great defense behind me."

Kerry Ligtenberg got two outs for his fifth save.

"We didn't play well," Expos manager Feipe Alou said. "We looked like the Braves last night. We gave them a few runs. We stayed after them but we didn't catch up to them."

Vladimir Guerrero hit his 22nd home run in the Expos eighth. He also doubled and singled.

Jordan hit a run-scoring single off Dustin Hermanson (6-5) to cap the Braves' three-run third and hit another RBI single in the fifth to give Atlanta a 5-1 lead.

Chipper Jones went 3-for-4, including two doubles, with a walk. Andruw Jones doubled and hit his 21st homer off reliever Felipe Lira to lead off the seventh.

Quilvio Veras drew a one-out walk in the third, stole second and advanced to third on Hermanson's wild pickoff throw.

Veras scored as Andruw Jones' grounder went right through third baseman Michael Barrett's legs into left field for his 12th error of the season, and first of two in the game.

"They had some tough plays that they didn't make," Chipper Jones said. "They made some errors in a couple of innings that really hurt them. I think it probably cost them two or three runs that would have made the game a lot closer, but we took advantage of it."

Jones stole second and Chipper Jones followed with a single to put runners at first and third. Andres Galarraga and Jordan had RBI singles for a 3-0 lead.

Jose Vidro, who went 2-for-5, extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI double in the bottom half to draw the Expos within 3-1.

The Braves made it 5-1 in the fifth on Chipper Jones' RBI double and Jordan's single.

Hermanson allowed five runs four earned in six innings. He struck out three and walked three.

Notes