Glavine, Braves Sink Expos

Tom Glavine loves to pitch against the Montreal Expos.

"They're generally a high fastball-hitting club, so if you can keep your ball down and change speeds, you've got a chance," Glavine said after beating the Expos for the 13th consecutive time in the Atlanta Braves' 4-1 win Thursday.

Glavine (7-7), who hasn't lost to the Expos in 17 starts since Aug. 25, 1992, allowed seven hits, struck out two and walked none in his second complete game this season, the 45th of his career.

Glavine was struck on his pitching hand by Manny Martinez's hard grounder with two outs in the third.

"It bothered me on my changeup a little," Glavine said. "I get my changeup back in my hand a little and that's kind of right where it hurt. The last couple of innings it got a little bit harder to stretch my fingers out and get my grip on my fastball."

Glavine won his fourth consecutive decision and his ERA, which had been 5.54 on May 24, dropped to 4.25.

Ryan Klesko hit a two-run double in the first inning, and Randall Simon had a career-high four hits as the Braves, who wasted leads in the previous two games, gained a split of the four-game series.

Klesko went 5-for-13 with six RBIs during the four-game series.

"It's just a good couple of weeks where I've been driving in runs," Klesko said. "I'm driving the ball in the gaps lately."

The Expos drew just 8,874 on Canada Day, a national holiday, and are averaging 8,789 for their first 44 home dates, by far the lowest in the major leagues.

Dan Smith (1-3) allowed three runs and seven hits in 3 1-3 innings, the shortest of his five career starts.

"I went out there today and really didn't have it," Smith said. "I was all over the place, rushing a lot of pitches and leaving balls up. You do that against these guys and you're going to be in trouble."

Smith failed to cover first on Walt Weiss' run-scoring infield single in the fourth, and immediately was repaced by Bobby Ayala.

Atlanta went ahead in the first when Keith Lockhart and Chipper Jones walked with one out, and Klesko hit a two-out liner to right-center that rolled to the wall.

Vladimir Guerrero hit an RBI grounder in the bottom half. The Braves made it 3-1 in the fourth on Weiss' single, and pinch-hitter Brian Hunter added a sacrifice fly in the ninth off Steve Kline.

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