Right-hander Greg Maddux tied teammate Tom Glavine and San Francisco’s John Burkett for the National League lead with his 18th victory Friday night, but his start was cut short when he was hit by a line drive off his pitching elbow in the sixth inning of the Atlanta Braves’ 3-2 victory over the Padres in San Diego.
The Braves won for the 25th time in 30 games to pull into a virtual first-place tie with the San Francisco Giants, who lost to St. Louis 6-2, in the NL West.
Maddux (18-9), working on a two-hitter, slipped as he finished his follow-through and was hit by Jeff Gardner’s line drive with one out in the sixth. Maddux got up and made a weak toss to get Gardner at first base. Team trainers checked Maddux, who was immediately replaced by Steve Bedrosian.
Maddux was taken for X-rays, which were negative.
In San Francisco, the Giants’ once-big lead in the West was reduced to two percentage points as they dropped their third straight decision. San Francisco fell to 89-51 while Atlanta improved to 90-52.
In the wild American League East, Toronto edged one game ahead of the New York, beating California 10-4 while Kansas City topped the Yankees 6-5. Baltimore slipped 1 1/2 back, losing to Oakland 12-9.
In the AL West, Texas closed within 3 1/2 games of the front-running White Sox by sweeping Minnesota 4-3 and 3-2.
