Pittsburgh ? On a hot, tense day in which it seemed a fight might break out at any minute, Chuck Finley found a way to cool off the Pittsburgh Pirates and win his National League debut.

Finley overcame a shaky beginning by getting the offensive support he seldom had in Cleveland, with Albert Pujols homering and driving in four runs in St. Louis’ 8-4 win over Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Chuck Finley delivers a pitch for his new team, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Finley (1-0) wasn’t dazzling in his first NL start following 17 seasons in the AL, giving back a three-run lead before leaving after allowing four runs, three earned, in six innings.

Finley, 4-11 with Cleveland, received an average of only 2.9 runs of support over his last 15 Indians starts.

Shortly after the first of two brief bench-clearing incidents, Finley helped himself with one of the Cardinals’ 14 hits, a double off Josh Fogg (10-7) in the fourth for his first hit in 27 career at-bats. The 39-year-old Finley scored on Fernando Vina’s single, putting the Cardinals ahead to stay, 5-4.

“We came out scoring runs and we kept adding on,” Finley said. “I like what I’ve seen of this team.”

The key moment came after Fogg narrowly missed hitting Jim Edmonds with two pitches before walking him with one out and one on in the third.

Tony La Russa came onto the field, as the Cardinals dugout yelled at Fogg and he yelled back, and Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon quickly joined him. No punches were thrown.

Braves 2, Phillies 1

Philadelphia Kevin Millwood pitched eight strong innings, Gary Sheffield homered and Atlanta completed a three-game sweep. Millwood (9-6) didn’t allow a hit until Marlon Anderson led off the sixth with a line drive single to right. He gave up four hits, one run and struck out five.

Reds 9, Mets 1

Cincinnati Barry Larkin and Brandon Larson hit solo homers, and Kelly Stinnett drove in three runs. Elmer Dessens (7-5) allowed four hits in seven scoreless innings.

Cubs 3, Astros 2

Chicago Mark Bellhorn and Fred McGriff homered, and Alex Gonzalez drove in the go-ahead run with a double against Tim Redding (3-6).

Rockies 6, Brewers 4

Denver Larry Walker homered and scored twice and Brent Butler added a solo homer.

Walker went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a walk to raise his NL-leading batting average to .358.

Jason Jennings (10-5) allowed three runs and six hits in 51â3 innings to become Colorado’s first 10-game winner.

Marlins 4, Expos 0

Miami Josh Beckett had a career-high 12 strikeouts in six innings. Beckett (3-4) allowed three hits in his second game back from the disabled list following blisters on his right middle finger. Kevin Millar hit a solo home run off Tony Armas (8-10) for the Marlins.

Padres 11, D’backs 9

San Diego San Diego finally hit Randy Johnson, getting a three-run double from Phil Nevin, a two-run double from pitcher Jake Peavey and eight runs against the four-time Cy Young winner in a victory against Arizona. Johnson (13-4), had been 8-0 with a 1.57 ERA against the Padres. He allowed eight hits and a season-high six walks in five innings.

Giants 6, Dodgers 4

Los Angeles Tom Goodwin hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning. Goodwin, whose two-out RBI single gave the Giants a 3-2, 12-inning victory Friday night, hit the first pitch from Giovanni Carrara (5-3) over the right-field wall.