Once Maddux Goes, Phillies Get Going, 5-2

The Philadelphia Phillies waited and waited for Greg Maddux to exit the game and then they rallied.

Mike Lieberthal’s three-run homer capped a four-run eighth inning and lifted the Phillies to a 5-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves Monday night at Philadelphia.

The Phillies, who took three of four in the series, scored all four eighth-inning runs after Maddux left the game.

“We were lucky to get him out of there,” said Lieberthal, who barely hooked a liner foul on the pitch before the homer.

Mike Remlinger (2-2) relieved Maddux after a one-out walk to Ron Gant and allowed a base hit to Bobby Abreu and a game-tying RBI single by Scott Rolen.

Kerry Ligtenberg came on and Lieberthal drilled a 1-2 pitch for his 11th homer.

The Phillies’ Randy Wolf yielded two runs and five hits in seven innings, Chris Brock (2-4) pitched a scoreless eighth and Jeff Brantley worked the ninth for his eighth save in as many chances.

Arizona 3, San Diego 2--Steve Finley walked with the bases loaded in the ninth inning at Phoenix as the Diamondbacks ended a three-game losing streak.

Finley, who hadn’t driven in a run since June 4, also had an RBI single in the eighth inning as Arizona rallied from a 2-0 deficit after Randy Johnson left the game.

Montreal 2, Pittsburgh 1--The Expos, 12-20 on the road, improved to 23-11 at home as Wilton Guerrero’s two-out single in the bottom of the eighth inning drove in the tiebreaking run. The crowd at Olympic Stadium was a season-low 7,483.

Milwaukee 2, Florida 0--Jamey Wright, who had to settle for the win instead of the first shutout of his career, took a three-hitter into the ninth inning at Miami. He was replaced by Bob Wickman after giving up at lead-off walk to Mark Kotsay. Wright (3-1) struck out a career-high eight.