The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Greg Maddux hung on for his 277th career victory while former teammate Tom Glavine gave up a career-high four home runs in their first-ever matchup.

Gary Sheffield, Chipper Jones, Julio Franco and Mark DeRosa hit solo homers in Atlanta's third straight win.

The much-anticipated meeting between the Cy Young Award winners fizzled from the start. Glavine was tagged for a solo homer by Sheffield in the first, and Maddux allowed five hits in the bottom half of the inning.

"It was kind of fun," Maddux said. "But I try to never make it personal. I wasn't facing him, I was facing the Mets. The only time I was facing Glav was when he had a bat in his hands or I had a bat in mine."

Maddux (4-5) was pulled after five innings and 83 pitches, giving up two runs and seven hits. Glavine (5-5) lost to his old team for the second time in a week, leaving after allowing five runs and nine hits in seven innings and remaining stuck on 247 wins.

"It was a little bit odd," Glavine said. "We were teammates a long time. I watched him pitch a lot."

Maddux and Glavine pitched together on the Braves from 1993 until last season. They began this game with 523 combined victories, the most for a pair of opposing starters since Aug. 16, 1992, when Nolan Ryan (319) faced Frank Tanana (230), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

John Smoltz, who teamed with Maddux and Glavine to give Atlanta an awesome rotation for so many years, got four outs for his 20th save in 21 chances.

Mets reliever John Franco pitched for the first time since Sept. 29, 2001, having been sidelined after having ligament-replacement surgery on his left elbow.

Astros 9, Cubs 1

CHICAGO - Wade Miller pitched a career-best two-hitter and Brad Ausmus had a three-run double as Houston beat Chicago in Sammy Sosa's first game since coming off the disabled list.

A rusty Sosa, activated Friday after missing 17 games with a toe injury, went 0-for-4 and struck out three times.

Miller (3-6) gave up a third-inning single to Damian Miller and Corey Patterson's 11th homer in the fifth. He struck out a career-high 14 and walked one in his first complete game this season.

Houston moved within a game of first-place Chicago in the NL Central.

Pirates 7, Cardinals 3

ST. LOUIS - Kenny Lofton homered to extend his hitting streak to 26 games and Jeff Suppan snapped his five-game losing streak.

Lofton hit his sixth homer on the first pitch of the third from Garrett Stephenson (3-4) to match Boston's Nomar Garciaparra for the longest hitting streak in the major leagues this season.

The Cardinals fell to 2-3 on a 13-game homestand, the longest of the season.

Phillies 12, Expos 5

PHILADELPHIA - Jim Thome homered and drove in four runs, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 12-5 victory over the Montreal Expos on Friday night.

Mike Lieberthal walked twice with the bases loaded and Bobby Abreu did it once to force in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning as the Phillies won for just the second time in six games. In all, Philadelphia walked eight times.

Orlando Cabrera had two solo homers for Montreal.