ATLANTA (AP) – Tom Glavine finally beat his buddy John Smoltz.

Backed by David Wright’s two-run homer, Mr. Glavine won for the first time in four tries this season against his longtime teammate, beating Atlanta 3-2 today as the Mets completed a three-game sweep.

New York, which dropped four straight in Philadelphia and led the Phillies by only two games before this series, recovered by holding the Braves to four runs in three games. The Mets extended their lead in the NL East to four games over the Phillies.

The sweep dropped the Braves 7½ games behind the Mets, their largest deficit of the season. The Braves have lost nine of 12 and are only 22-26 since the All-Star break. Atlanta began the day 6½ back in the wild-card race.

Brian McCann’s ninth-inning double was the Braves’ first extra-base hit of the series.

Mr. Glavine (12-6) gave up five hits and one run in six innings, with three walks and two strikeouts.

The left-hander was 0-2 despite a 2.96 ERA in four career matchups with Mr. Smoltz, including three this season.

Billy Wagner gave up a ninth-inning run, marking the fifth straight appearance he has allowed a run – a career-first. He has given up eight runs in 5 1-3 innings in that span.

The closer was making his first appearance since giving up four hits and three runs in an 11-10 loss at Philadelphia on Thursday. It was Wagner’s third blown save of August.

Mr. Wagner gave up a double to McCann and a run-scoring single to Kelly Johnson before finishing the inning for his 30th save in 34 chances.

Mr. Smoltz (12-7) was 3-0 in the rivalry before giving up nine hits and three runs in seven innings. He walked two batters and struck out four.

Mr. Glavine retired 12 straight batters after giving up a first-inning run, and left the game after Kelly Johnson led off the seventh with a single. Jorge Sosa, another former Atlanta pitcher, then got three straight outs.

The 41-year-old Mr. Glavine gave up two hits and two walks but only one run in the first. Yunel Escobar and Matt Diaz opened the inning with singles, and a walk to Mark Teixeira loaded the bases with one out. Escobar scored on a grounder to third by Jeff Francoeur.

The Mets tied the game with a second-inning run. With one out, consecutive singles by Moises Alou, Shawn Green and Paul Lo Duca loaded the bases. Mr. Glavine drove in Alou with a fly ball that Andruw Jones, who had been playing shallow, barely caught in front of the warning track in center.

Mr. Escobar lost Jose Reyes’ fifth-inning fly at shortstop in the sun. The ball fell for a single. Luis Castillo hit into a groundout that would have ended the inning if Mr. Escobar had made the catch.

Instead, Mr. Wright followed with the two-run homer to center on the first pitch from Smoltz, who dropped his head in disgust as soon as Wright made contact.

Mr. Alou was ejected by first base umpire Andy Fletcher in the eighth. Mr. Alou tried to check his swing on a pitch as Carlos Beltran stole second base, but on the appeal Fletcher ruled Alou swung for strike three. Alou took steps toward first and argued the call before he was quickly tossed.<

Meanwhile, in New York, Carlos Pena hit a three-run homer to tie Tampa Bay’s single-season record and the Devil Rays beat New York 8-2 to send the Yankees into a pivotal series on a sour note.

Tampa Bay beat Andy Pettitte for only the second time in 20 career starts and won a series at Yankee Stadium for the first time since 2005. It’s only the Devil Rays’ fourth series win in 27 trips to the Bronx.

Bobby Abreu went 2-for-5 with an RBI for the Yankees, who entered play trailing AL East-leading Boston by five games. New York is two games ahead of Seattle in the wild-card race with the Mariners coming to town for a three-game set beginning tomorrow.

Akinori Iwamura hit a two-run homer one day after his bat was confiscated, and Dioner Navarro and Josh Wilson had solo drives for the Devil Rays.

Mr. Pettitte was coming off a typically brilliant August and had won 12 straight decisions against the Devil Rays.

But Tampa Bay went in front on B.J. Upton’s sacrifice fly in the sixth, and Mr. Pena hit his 34th homer in the seventh to chase Pettitte and make it 5-1. Jose Canseco also hit 34 homers with the Devil Rays in 1999 and Aubrey Huff accomplished the feat in 2003.

Mr. Pettitte (12-8) allowed five runs and 11 hits in 6 1-3 innings, falling to 8-2 in 11 starts since the All-Star break. He also dropped to 13-2 with a 3.53 ERA against Tampa Bay.

The left-hander, who won all six of his starts last month, hadn’t lost since July 27 at Baltimore.
While Pettitte struggled, the Devil Rays got a great start from Jason Hammel (2-4). The 24-year-old rookie struck out seven in five-plus innings, allowing just one run and five hits.

Mr. Hammel, who went 0-6 in nine starts with Tampa Bay last season, earned his first career win as a starter. He tossed 2 1-3 shutout relief innings to win at Arizona on June 18.

Mr. Navarro connected with one out in the third for his seventh of the season, giving Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead. Left fielder Johnny Damon tried to bring it in with a well-timed jump at the wall but the drive just cleared his glove.

Mr. Damon responded in the fifth, throwing out Wilson at the plate and giving New York a little momentum.
Mr. Hammel hit Andy Phillips with a pitch with one out in the bottom half and Melky Cabrera followed with a double to right. Phillips hustled around third and stuck his hand under Navarro to reach the plate ahead of the tag.

Mr. Cabrera went to third on the throw home and Damon reached on an error to give the Yankees runners on the corners. But Mr. Hammel got Derek Jeter to fly out to right and struck out Abreu to end the inning.

Mr. Phillips left the game with a contusion on his right wrist and was replaced at first by Wilson Betemit in the sixth. The Yankees said he will have a precautionary MRI exam and CT scan.

Mr. Hammel departed after he brushed Alex Rodriguez with a pitch to begin the sixth. Scott Dohmann entered and got Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada to fly out before Robinson Cano walked to put runners on first and second. Betemit then flied out to left to end the inning.

Mr. Dohmann and three others combined to work the final four innings for the Devil Rays.

Mr. Iwamura’s two-run drive in the eighth was his first since Yankees manager Joe Torre questioned whether his bat conformed to major league rules during New York’s 9-6 win on Saturday.

Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon then got Alex Rodriguez’s bat confiscated by the umpires in what Maddon said was purely a retaliatory move.<