Reames' pitching proves decisive for Cardinals

The rookie pitcher Britt Reames was the hero for St Louis as the Cardinals edged out the Montreal Expos 7-6 on Tuesday night.

The rookie pitcher Britt Reames was the hero for St Louis as the Cardinals edged out the Montreal Expos 7-6 on Tuesday night.

Reames (1-1), making his fourth major league start, gave up three runs, walked four and struck out three as the Cardinals equalled their season high with their sixth straight win. The 27-year-old Reames retired the first 11 batters of the game before walking Andy Tracy with two outs in the fourth inning.

"That was impressive," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "He kept pitching. He's very competitive and has plenty of stuff. He was dealing."

In San Francisco, Barry Bonds hit two of his team's six homers as the Giants won their seventh straight game, 8-5 over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Giants homered three times in the seventh inning for the final margin. Bill Mueller and Bonds hit consecutive homers off Ed Vosberg (1-1) and J T Snow went deep two batters later off Vicente Padilla.

San Francisco have now moved six-and-a-half games ahead of Arizona in the National League West. Ellis Burks, who went 4-for-4, and Rich Aurilia also homered for the Giants.

In Atlanta, Chipper Jones homered twice off Randy Johnson as the Braves withstood a strong effort from Tom Glavine to secure a 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series.

Jones had two-run homers in the first and fifth innings and Andres Galarraga also homered off Johnson (17-6).

Glavine (19-6) allowed two runs - one earned - and five hits in seven innings. Johnson allowed five runs and six hits in six innings, striking out 11.