ATLANTA, 30 May 2003 — The Atlanta Braves accomplished a rare feat in their 15-3 rout of the Cincinnati Reds in National League play on Wednesday, as they began the game with three straight home runs.

Rafael Furcal, Mark DeRosa and Gary Sheffield took Cincinnati’s Jeff Austin (2-3) deep in consecutive at-bats in the bottom of the first, only the second time in big-league history that has happened.

Javy Lopez homered later in the inning to chase Austin, who failed to finish the first for the second consecutive game.

The San Diego Padres were the only other team to open with three consecutive round-trippers, in a game against San Francisco back in April of 1987. Marvelle Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk did the honours in that game.

Marlins 4/6 Expos 3/0 (DH)

In Miami, Tommy Phelps and two relievers combined on a four-hitter as the Florida Marlins edged the Montreal Expos 4-3 in the first game of a double-header.

Phelps (2-0) helped with his bat, too, collecting his first major-league hit in the fourth inning and then going on to score the winning run.

Livan Hernandez (4-3) took the loss, charged with three of the four Florida runs in his six innings of work.

In the nightcap, the Marlins pushed across two runs in their first at-bats and made them stand up in a 6-0 shutout of Montreal.

Mike Lowell’s double off Zach Day (4-3) got Florida on the board.

Michael Tejera went six innings to notch his first victory of the season against three losses.

Phillies 11 Mets 3

In Philadelphia, the Phils went deep five times in an 11-3 humbling of the New York Mets. Ricky Ledee and Bobby Abreu had three-run shots, with Jim Thome, Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco notching solo homers.

Pedro Astacio (3-2) served up three of the five homers, with just activated David Cone yielding another. Vicente Padilla (4-6) tossed seven innings of three-hit ball for the win.

Cardinals 3 Astros 1

In St. Louis, Jason Simontacchi went all the way, surrendering just six hits, as the St. Louis Cardinals downed the host Astros 3-1. Simontacchi (2-3) struck out five without a walk. J.D. Drew scored the first St. Louis run and drove in the third with a fifth-inning double off loser Jonathan Johnson (0-1).

Rockies 6 Dodgers 0

In Denver, the Colorado Rockies picked up from where they left off Tuesday night, getting three quick runs on their way to a 6-0 thumping of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mark Sweeney accounted for two of the three runs with a homer off Darren Dreifort (4-4).

Alaskan-born Shawn Chacon (7-2) tossed eight innings of two-hit ball to earn the victory. Vic Darensbourg also surrendered two hits in an inning in relief of Chacon.A day earlier, Colorado scored five times in the first in a 7-3 win.

Cubs 5 Pirates 4

In Chicago, Damian Miller and Alex Gonzalez home runs accounted for all the Chicago scoring as the division-leading Cubs held on to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4. Miller took Jeff D’Amico (4-5) deep in the second inning with two aboard and then Gonzalez tagged him for a second homer with a man on base two innings later.

That gave Chicago a 5-2 lead, the Pirates tacking on two more runs in the eighth frame to draw closer.

Padres 8 Brewers 6

In San Diego, Gary Bennett hit a game-winning two-run homer off Luis Vizcaino with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the San Diego Padres to an 8-6 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Bennett, who had an RBI double in the seventh, drove a 1-1 pitch from Vizcaino (1-3) over the left field wall to snap San Diego’s seven-game losing streak to Milwaukee.

Mike Matthews (2-3) notched the victory after pitching a perfect ninth for the Padres.

Giants 10 Diamondbacks 2

In San Francisco, Benito Santiago homered twice and drove in four runs and Damian Moss tossed 6 1/3 solid innings as the San Francisco Giants coasted to a 10-2 rout of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Barry Bonds homered and scored three times and Marvin Benard, who was activated from the disabled list prior to the game, had an RBI triple. Moss (6-3), who ended a three-game losing streak, allowed two runs and five hits. The lefthanded Australian walked three and struck out three.