Recap: Atlanta vs. Colorado
Sports Network | September 10, 2008
Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Kelly Johnson hit a pair of solo home runs, as the Atlanta Braves downed the Colorado Rockies, 9-5, in the middle test of a three-game series at Turner Field.
Chipper Jones finished 3-for-4 with a homer, a walk and three runs scored for the Braves, who have won two straight games and four of their last six overall. Brian McCann collected three hits, including two doubles, and drove in a run.
James Parr pitched six shutout innings, allowing five hits, but did not factor into the decision. Blaine Boyer gave up three runs without retiring a batter. Jeff Bennett (3-6) picked up the win after he recorded the final two outs in the seventh.
Ian Stewart homered and Jeff Baker knocked in two runs for Colorado, which has dropped four straight games. Troy Tulowitzki had three hits and scored a run.
Livan Hernandez surrendered four runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings of work. Luis Vizcaino (1-1) was saddled with the loss after he was touched for three runs and did not retire a batter.
Trailing by four runs, the Rockies put up a four-spot in the seventh to even the score. Boyer started the inning for Atlanta and Stewart greeted him with a shot to the right-field seats. Chris Iannetta then walked and Tulowitzki singled off Boyer. Will Ohman took over the mound and, after pinch-hitter Ryan Spilborghs flied out, gave up an infield single to Dexter Folwer.
Bennett inherited the bases-loaded situation, and Baker's grounder up the middle eluded the glove of a diving Escobar and chased home Iannetta and Tulowitzki. Brad Hawpe's sacrifice fly knotted the score at four.
Atlanta, though, quickly answered with five runs in the bottom of the seventh. Johnson and Jones clubbed back-to-back home runs to open the inning. After McCann doubled, Steven Register relieved the ineffective Vizcaino. A two-out hit by Jeff Francoeur put men on the corners for Brandon Jones, who ripped an RBI double to right. Pinch-hitter Greg Norton walked to load the bases and Josh Anderson had a two-run single for a 9-4 Braves lead.
The Rockies got a run back in the eighth on a Yunel Escobar fielding error, but went down quietly in the ninth.
The Braves jumped on top in the first on Johnson's one-out blast to the seats in right. Atlanta tacked on another run in the fourth on an RBI double by Escobar, then plated two more runs in the fifth to go up 4-0.
Josh Anderson and Chipper Jones singled before McCann ripped a ground-rule double. Matt Herges entered from the Colorado bullpen and issued a walk to Escobar, loading the bases for Casey Kotchman, whose ground ball plated Jones.
Johnson notched the third multi-homer game of his career...In his first two major league starts, Parr, a fourth-round pick in 2004, has allowed seven hits over 12 scoreless frames...The Rockies left nine men on base, while Atlanta stranded eight.
