MILWAUKEE – Ben Sheets struck out a franchise-record 18 – the most in the majors in three years – leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.

It was the most strikeouts by a big league pitcher since Arizona’s Randy Johnson tied a major league record with 20 on May 8, 2001, against Cincinnati.

Sheets’ previous career high was 10 strikeouts against Houston on April 10 and May 5 against Cincinnati. The previous franchise mark of 14 was set by Moose Haas on April 12, 1978, against the New York Yankees.

Sheets (4-2) threw a three-hitter and struck out six of the last seven batters he faced – including all three in the ninth. He threw 116 pitches, 91 for strikes.

He fanned every Braves starter except second baseman Nick Green, who made his first major league start in place of Marcus Giles, who broke his collarbone Saturday night.

Mets 3, Astros, 2

HOUSTON – Mike Piazza spoiled Roger Clemens’ bid for his eighth straight win with a tying homer in the ninth off Octavio Dotel, and the New York Mets beat the Houston Astros 3-2 Sunday on Jason Phillips’ 13th-inning home run.

After Clemens struck out 10 in seven shutout innings, the Mets rallied in the ninth against Dotel. Eric Valent led off with a double, and two outs later, Piazza hit a 1-2 pitch over the right-center fence to tie it.

Marlins 3, Cardinals 2

ST. LOUIS – Brad Penny worked six solid innings and the Florida Marlins got a pair of big two-out hits, avoiding a three-game sweep with a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

Rockies 7, Phillies 6

DENVER – Jeromy Burnitz drove in the tiebreaking run with an infield single in the eighth inning and had four RBIs, helping the Colorado Rockies end a three-game losing streak with a 7-6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Reds 6, Dodgers 3

LOS ANGELES – Adam Dunn had his first three-hit game of the season, including a two-run double, and the Cincinnati Reds completed their first three-game sweep of the year with a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Expos 6, Diamondbacks 1

PHOENIX – Livan Hernandez pitched a six-hitter for his second complete game in 10 days, helping the Montreal Expos beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1 on Sunday and complete their first series sweep of the season.

Cubs 4, Padres 2

SAN DIEGO – Jose Macias hit a tiebreaking home run off David Wells, and Michael Barrett also connected to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 4-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Sunday for a three-game sweep.

Pirates 8, Giants 1

SAN FRANCISCO – Rob Mackowiak homered twice and drove in four runs to help the Pittsburgh Pirates complete a rare three-game sweep in San Francisco with a 8-1 victory over the Giants on Sunday.

The Pirates hadn’t swept a series in San Francisco since winning a five-gamer in September 1996. They had won just three times in the first four seasons of this ballpark before taking three in a row this weekend with Barry Bonds out with a bad back.

Kip Wells (3-4) took advantage of a lineup missing Bonds and leadoff hitter Ray Durham (sore hamstring), holding the punchless Giants to one run and seven hits in five innings for his first win in a month.

Mackowiak supplied most of the offense with a solo homer in the second, an RBI single in the fourth and a two-run shot in the sixth off Jerome Williams (3-3). It was Mackowiak’s third career multihomer game.

The Pirates completed a 5-1 road trip to Colorado and San Francisco to improve to 13-8 away from home. They play 14 of their next 17 games at PNC Park where they are just 4-10 this season.

The Giants were swept at home for the second time this season – surpassing last year’s total when they went wire-to-wire to win the NL West. They’ve lost four straight and nine of 12.

Once again they were done in by the double play, hitting into two more to increase their major league-leading total to 48.

When San Francisco tried to stay out of the double play, that backfired, too. The Giants ran themselves out of a potential big inning in the fifth. With runners on first and third and one out, Marquis Grissom swung and missed on a hit-and-run. J.T. Snow got caught in a rundown between first and second before the Pirates caught Williams straying too far off third for the second out.

Grissom walked on the next pitch and Edgardo Alfonzo singled to load the bases before A.J. Pierzynski grounded out to end the threat.

Mackowiak’s seventh homer the next inning made it 5-1.

Williams, who left his previous appearance in the fourth inning with a minor biceps strain in his right arm, got off to a strong start by retiring nine of the first 10 batters, six by strikeouts.

The only batter to reach in that span was Mackowiak, who hit a first-pitch homer to center with one out in the second.

The Pirates put runners on first and third with one out in the fourth before Mackowiak and Jason Bay hit consecutive RBI singles to make it 3-0.

Marquis Grissom homered in the bottom half for the Giants’ only run off Wells.

Pinch-hitter Abraham Nunez homered for Pittsburgh in a three-run ninth against Matt Herges.

Notes: Wells was 0-3 with a 7.08 ERA in four starts since beating the Mets on April 16. … With Josh Fogg’s victory Saturday, the Pirates got wins from their starters in consecutive games for just the second time this season. Oliver Perez and Kris Benson did it April 11-12. … Williams allowed five runs and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings. … Bonds is expected to be back in the lineup Tuesday in Chicago.

AP-ES-05-16-04 1904EDT