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RECAP
ATLANTA (AP) -- What was supposed to be a tuneup for the postseason also turned out to be a huge game for Tom Glavine and the Atlanta Braves.
|  | | Tom Glavine pitched five scoreless innings to pick up his 21st win. He'll start the Braves' second game of the playoffs. |
Glavine pitched five scoreless innings in getting ready for next week's playoffs to gain his 21st win and the Braves beat the Colorado Rockies 5-2 Saturday night.
The Braves can clinch the home-field advantage for Tuesday's opener of the best-of-5 playoffs against Central Division champion St. Louis by winning Sunday -- or if the Cardinals lose.
Glavine (21-9), who will start Game 2 against the Cardinals, gave up four hits, walked one, struck out three and ended Atlanta's three-game losing streak.
"If you're going to go out there, you might as well pitch to win," said Glavine. "As much as it was a so-called tuneup, you still want to win the game and stay sharp."
Glavine, who pitched a shutout in his last start, a 6-0 win over
Montreal, extended his scoreless string to 14 innings and lowered
his ERA to 3.40 in his bid for a third Cy Young with his 21 wins.
"It just means I've had a good year," he said. "In a lot of
ways it was a big game for us, trying to get the home-field
advantage. That was more on my mind than anything else."
Colorado manager Buddy Bell had only admiration for Glavine.
"It was typical. He was no different than he usually is. He
throws strikes. He's a great, great pitcher. Our bats were not long
enough," he said.
John Rocker pitched the ninth, earning his 24th save in 26
chances.
"We got Tommy No. 21 and we got to go up one game on St.
Louis," said Atlanta manager Bobby Cox. "So, it was a good
night."
The Braves (95-66) have a 51-29 record at home and are 44-37 on
the road this season.
"If you look at the stats all the home teams always play better
at home," said Cox. "It's a slight edge."
Andruw Jones led the Braves offense. He went 3-for-4 with a solo
home run -- his team-high 36th -- an RBI triple and a single.
Colorado starter Brian Rose (4-5) went 5 1/3 innings. He allowed
six hits and five runs.
Jones homered in the first inning and Atlanta made it 2-0 in the
fourth on a sacrifice fly by Javy Lopez.
Jones knocked in Rafael Furcal, who had singled, with his triple
in a two-run fifth inning. Wally Joyner added an RBI single.
Atlanta's fifth run came in the sixth when Lopez led off with a
walk, went to second on a ground out, took third on a passed ball
and scored on George Lombard's grounder.
The Rockies scored twice in the eighth when reliever Mike
Remlinger gave up a leadoff single to Terry Shumpert then walked
three in a row -- Neifi Perez, Jeff Cirillo and Todd Helton -- forcing in a run.
Scott Kamieniecki came on and got Butch Huskey to hit into a
double play - a one-hop liner to second -- as another run scored.
Atlanta leads the Cardinals by one game. St. Louis lost to
Cincinnati 8-4 earlier Saturday.
The team with the best record gets the home-field advantage. If
the two teams end up tied, the Cardinals would open at home because
they won the season series 4-3.
The Braves escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth after Terry Mulholland came on and gave up walks to Perez and Helton sandwiched around a single to Cirillo, loading the bases.
But Terry Ligtenberg relieved and got Huskey on a liner to short
and Todd Hollandsworth on a liner to right to end the inning.
"Just two feet here or there and it's a different ballgame and
maybe we win," said Huskey. "All you can do is go up there and
hit the ball hard."
Game notes
Atlanta RF Reggie Sanders misplayed Ben Petrick's
wind-blown double in the second inning. He then overthrew the
cutoff man (2B Keith Lockhart), but still managed to get the out when the relay went to SS Rafael Furcal, who threw Petrick out at
third. ... The three hits by Andruw Jones gave the Atlanta outfielder 199 hits for the season. The last Braves player to have
at least 200 hits was Marquis Grissom (207) in 1996. ... The crowd of 48,933 was Atlanta's 24th sellout. ... Bell was ejected in the eighth inning for arguing a called third strike on Jeff Frye.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Colorado Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
RECAPS
Cleveland 6
Toronto 5
Seattle 21
Anaheim 9
Oakland 23
Texas 2
Boston 4
Tampa Bay 2
Detroit 6
Minnesota 5
Baltimore 9
NY Yankees 1
Chi. White Sox 9
Kansas City 1
NY Mets 4
Montreal 2
Cincinnati 8
St. Louis 4
Florida 11
Philadelphia 5
Pittsburgh 4
Chicago Cubs 2
Atlanta 5
Colorado 2
Houston 7
Milwaukee 6
Arizona 5
San Francisco 1
Los Angeles 10
San Diego 2
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