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Braves earn comeback win over Cubs

Jun 11, 2007 - 4:36 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Braves are getting really good at come-from-behind heroics.

Willie Harris scored on a wild pitch as the Braves rallied for a 5-4 victory against the Chicago Cubs in a wild affair at Turner Field.

Atlanta entered Sunday with a major league-leading 10 come-from-behind wins when trailing after the seventh inning. The Braves made it 11 Sunday.

"I had no clue of that stat," Harris said. "It's good for us to come from behind and win. I think it shows a lot about our team character about how we play the game."

With Atlanta trailing, 4-2, in the eighth, rookie Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a leadoff double into the left-center field gap off Chicago closer Ryan Dempster (1-3), who had blown just one save in 13 opportunities this season.

Scott Thorman plated Saltalamacchia with a double and advanced to third on a single by pinch hitter Harris. After the speedy Harris swiped second, Dempster issued an intentional walk to Kelly Johnson, bringing up Yunel Escobar. The rookie grounded into a double play, scoring Thorman to tie the game.

Pinch hitter Brian McCann was walked intentionally ahead of Andruw Jones, who entered batting .325 (13-for-40) with two homers and eight RBI against the Chicago closer.

Jones' services at the plate were not needed because Dempster uncorked a wild 3-2 offering, which went all the way to the backstop and allowed Harris to score.

"I was anticipating a wild pitch," Harris said. "I was looking for something down in the dirt you could score on. You know they're going to throw Andruw (Jones) a bunch of sliders and a bunch of off-speed pitches. One got away from them enough and I scored."

Dempster's wildness made a winner of Atlanta reliever Chad Paronto (3-1), who scattered two hits in 1 1/3 innings. Bob Wickman pitched a scoreless ninth to record his 11th save.

"It was a heck of a ballgame," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "The fans really got their money's worth."

Chicago starter Ted Lilly lasted just two-thirds of an inning before he was ejected for hitting shortstop Edgar Renteria on his left hand and chin with a 2-0 pitch.

"I understand the game," Renteria said. "If he hit me down in the butt, I understand. But up in my head? I don't understand that."

Renteria, who thought that the hit by pitch was intentional and in retaliation for Tim Hudson's plunking of Alfonso Soriano with the first pitch of the game on Saturday, walked toward the mound.

"It's a tough situation for the Cubbies," Cox said. "We honestly did not hit Soriano on purpose. We were trying to go in, that's all. To them, it appeared we did."

Both benches were warned and the benches cleared. With home plate umpire Jim Wolf escorting Renteria down the first base line, Lilly was ejected.

"It took (Wolf) a while to decide (intent)," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Then he came to that conclusion. We got the worst of all experiences in the first inning on that call."

"(Wolf) told me that he was ready for this to happen," Lilly said. "I don't know why he didn't warn me before the game. It was too soon to do something like that. He has to take into account that starting pitchers can't get kicked out of the game that soon."

Renteria quickly retaliated by sending his hand into the face of second baseman Mike Fontenot when he stole second on the next pitch. But Renteria, a five-time All-Star, was gone three frames later with a contusion to his left hand. X-rays were negative.

"It hit me in the hand and the chin," said Renteria, who expects to play in the opener of Atlanta's three-game set against Minnesota on Tuesday. "I got lucky that I got a big chin, it's strong."

Atlanta took a 2-0 advantage in the third on a homer by Kelly Johnson and a two-out run-scoring single by Jeff Francoeur.

But Fontenot, who was recalled from Class AAA Iowa one day after Cliff Floyd was placed on the bereavement list on Friday, tripled in Mark DeRosa in the fifth off Atlanta starter Buddy Carlyle, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Soriano plated Fontenot to tie the game.

In the next frame, Michael Barrett, who grew up outside Atlanta, smashed his ninth homer of the season just over the glove of leaping left fielder Matt Diaz to give Chicago the lead.

Fontenot matched Barrett by smacking his first major league homer into the right-center field bleachers to give the Cubs a 4-2 edge.