Giants Beaten by Braves

Steve Avery beat the Giants for the third time this season, andthe Atlanta Braves' 5-3 victory Monday night moved them within 6 1/2games of first-place San Francisco in the opening game of their NLWest showdown at Candlestick Park.

Despite giving up a two-run homer to Robby Thompson, Avery(14-4) dominated. The left-hander has all three of Atlanta'svictories against the Giants this year. He posted his secondcomplete game of the season and also had an RBI double. Thompsonhomered for the fourth straight game. The Braves staked Avery to a3-0 lead in the second off starter Trevor Wilson (7-5), who left thegame after four innings with a sore shoulder.

The crowd of 53,282 pushed the Giants' season attendance to afranchise-record 2,073,500. The previous mark was 2,059,829, set in1989 when the team won the NL title.

Rockies 3, Phillies 2: Dante Bichette's home run in the 13thinning lifted Colorado past Philadelphia at Veterans Stadium for theRockies' fifth straight victory.

Padres 7, Cardinals 5: Phil Plantier's first career grand slamhighlighted a five-run first as host San Diego beat St. Louis to enda season-high seven-game losing streak. Plantier connected offDonovan Osborne (10-7), who lasted only one-third of an inning andlost for the first time in five career decisions against the Padres.Plantier has 10 homers and 21 RBI in his last 23 games.

Reds 6, Mets 2: Dwight Gooden (11-14) was ejected in the thirdinning for hitting rookie Brian Koelling with a pitch, as Cincinnatibeat New York at Shea Stadium.

Dodgers 6, Pirates 1: Orel Hershiser (9-12) ended his three-gamelosing streak as Los Angeles beat visiting Pittsburgh for its fifthstraight victory. Hershiser also had two singles, giving him 24 hitsfor the season and a .421 batting average. John Bentley of the 1923New York Giants set the NL record for the highest batting average bya pitcher with a .406 mark.