The Associated Press
ATLANTA Ÿ They did it again.
The Atlanta Braves, behind Tom Glavine and the bullpen, shut down the Cleveland Indians on six hits, winning 4-3 last night for a 2-0 lead in the World Series.
Javier Lopez took care of the rest for Atlanta. He broke a sixth-inning tie with a two-run homer off Dennis Martinez, then made a key pickoff throw in the eighth.
''It was two games we easily could have lost,'' Glavine said. ''Every game will come down to the wire. We've made the plays, gotten the hits and the outs when we needed to.''
A day after the Indians were held to a season-worst two singles by Greg Maddux, the best lineup in the majors didn't do much better against the top staff in the game.
Only Eddie Murray's early two-run homer did anything to disprove baseball's oldest adage Ÿ good pitching stops good hitting, especially in October.
''They're just better pitchers than we've seen in a while, as a whole,'' Indians manager Mike Hargrove said. ''I'm not saying they're better than the pitchers in the American League. It's just that Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine are as good as we've seen in a long while.''
The Braves' second one-run win gave them the kind of edge they never enjoyed in losing the World Series in 1991 and 1992, and they still have the option of using Maddux twice more.
''It's a big difference being up 2-0,'' Glavine said. ''By no means is this over, but this is the best position we could possibly be in.''
Glavine limited the Indians, who led the majors in batting, scoring and home runs, to three hits in six innings. Like Maddux, he used his off-speed stuff to keep Cleveland off-balance, and wound up with his third win in five Series decisions. Glavine appeared to break only one bat Ÿ Albert Belle's on a soft single Ÿ as opposed to the five Maddux broke in Game 1.