MONTREAL (AP) Paul Byrd pitched eight strong innings and Eli Marrero homered to help the Atlanta Braves extend their winning streak to four games with a 7-1 victory over the Montreal Expos on Friday night.
Byrd (6-4) held the Expos scoreless into the eighth before Maicer Izturis hit a leadoff triple and scored on pinch-hitter Ryan Church's RBI grounder.
Byrd, who returned June 19 from Tommy John surgery which caused him to miss the entire 2003 season, allowed four hits, struck out five and walked two.
J.D. Drew hit an RBI single in the third to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. The Braves finished with nine hits, ending a streak of 12 straight games of 10 or more.
Atlanta scored twice off Scott Downs (2-5) with two out in the third. Rafael Furcal hit a two-out single and scored on Marcus Giles' RBI double. Drew's run-scoring single made it 2-0.
Marrero hit his ninth homer with one out in the fourth and the Braves chased Downs during a four-run seventh.
Left-hander Joe Horgan walked Drew with one out to load the bases and Chipper Jones laced a grounder off third baseman Tony Batista's glove for a run-scoring infield single.
Julio Franco drew a bases-loaded walk off T.J. Tucker to increase the lead to 6-0 and Andruw Jones drove in the Braves' seventh run with a sacrifice fly.
Downs allowed seven hits and five runs in 6 1-3 innings in his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Edmonton on Aug. 26.
Notes: Byrd's previous longest outing of the season was 7 1-3 innings in a 6-2 win in Arizona on Aug. 7. ... The Expos have been shut out in consecutive games three times this season, including a three-game series in Florida from April 13-15 when they were outscored 17-0 overall.
Saturday
February 8th, 2025
4:20PM
