Cubs Chase Glavine Early

Tom Glavine--the two-time Cy Young Award winner--gave up four runs and six hits in five innings Thursday, his shortest outing of the season, as the Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3, at Chicago.

The game, a makeup of Wednesday’s rainout, drew only 5,267, the smallest crowd at Wrigley Field since Sept. 23, 1986, when 4,684 attended a game against Montreal. It also was the first time the Cubs drew fewer than 10,000 fans since April 23, 1992, when 9,086 showed up to see a game against Philadelphia.

Kevin Tapani (3-6) had a two-hitter through six innings, when Andres Galarraga hit a three-run home run. It was Galarraga’s 15th homer, his third of the series. Tapani gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings. Rick Aguilera got two outs for his 10th save.

Glavine (7-2) had lost only one start dating to Sept. 22, going 10-1 in 14 games. He struck out seven, but walked five and threw 114 pitches.

“Glavine had good stuff, but he had a lot of pitches after five innings,” Brave Manager Bobby Cox said. “Still, one of them was just a wind-blown home run [by Damon Buford in the fourth inning]. We forgot to cover second on another one and we dropped the ball on another one at second. The linescore looks bad, but he could’ve got out of there with two runs, tops.”

Arizona 4, St. Louis 0--Matt Williams, Steve Finley and Luis Gonzalez homered as the Diamondbacks salvaged a series split at Phoenix.

Armando Reynoso (4-4) pitched seven strong innings for the victory, giving up four hits and striking out four before he was lifted for a pinch hitter.

Andy Benes (4-3), facing his former team for the first time, gave up six hits in seven innings. But three of those hits were solo shots by Arizona’s most consistent sluggers.

Williams led off the second with his first homer in seven games, dating to last Sept. 27, against Colorado’s Luther Hackney. Williams broke his right foot in spring training and was on the disabled list until May 23.

Finley hit his 19th--giving him a league-leading 52 RBIs--with two out in the fourth, and Gonzalez drove a 434-foot shot into the right-field bleachers in the sixth.

Mark McGwire, who hit his major league-leading 21st homer Wednesday, was rested for the 10th game of a 16-day stretch in which the Cardinals play a game each day.

Montreal 9, Cincinnati 7--Rondell White and Charlie O’Brien hit two-run homers at Cincinnati as the Expos concluded an injury-marred trip with 17 hits against five pitchers.

The Expos lost pitchers Matt Blank, Mike Thurman and Hideki Irabu, and catcher Chris Widger to injuries during the 3-6 trip.

Slumping Red Ken Griffey Jr., batting .212, was given the day off.