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Smoltz, Jones help Braves crush Nationals

Jun 28, 2007 - 4:16 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- John Smoltz was definitely happy that Chipper Jones was playing on Wednesday.

Jones drove in four runs and Smoltz hurled five shutout innings to power the Atlanta Braves to a 13-0 rout over the Washington Nationals to sweep the three-game series.

Jones, a five-time All-Star, has played with Smoltz (9-4) for the better of 15 seasons, the longest of any tandem in the major leagues, and has powered Smoltz and the Braves to victory in quite a few of Smoltz's 202 major-league wins.

But that has not happened often as of late, as Jones has been sidelined with injuries. But with Jones feeling chipper, it seemed like old times on Wednesday.

"It was a picture perfect day for us," Jones said. "We were able to get the win and the offense woke back up."

Jones gave his teammate the lead in the first inning by smashing a single off Washington starter Micah Bowie (4-3) to left field and extended the advantage to 2-0 in with a RBI base hit in the third.

The long-time Atlanta third baseman drove in another run with a single in Atlanta's four-run fourth and padded the advantage to 10-0 when he plated a run on a fielder's choice in the fifth.

"I was coming up with guys on third and less than two outs, every at bat," Jones said. "It made my job easy."

In Smoltz's last start on Friday, the Braves were blanked by the Red Sox as the 35-year-old Jones sat out with a tweaked groin. Smoltz, who was rocked for five runs and eight hits in six frames, insinuated that his long-time teammate should have been playing through his injury.

Hearing the comments on the radio, Jones took exception and publicly criticized the Atlanta ace, setting off a public soap opera the likes of which were never seen before in manager Bobby Cox's tenure. The duo worked out their difficulties in a closed door meeting on Sunday.

Jones' offensive outburst gave Smoltz more of a cushion than the seven-time All-Star needed.

The 40-year-old ace scattered five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in five shutout frames to improve to 19-11 with a 2.63 ERA and 17 saves in 64 games - 38 starts - against the Nationals franchise.

"It was good," said Smoltz, who was upset with the media's coverage of his spat with Jones and promised to have "a surprise" in store for them in an interview on Atlanta radio station 790 the Zone on Monday. "(The win was) pretty important."

With the game well in hand, both Smoltz and Jones were lifted for pinch runners in the bottom of the fifth inning to applause from the Turner Field crowd.

"It was big (to get Smoltz out of the game early)," Jones said. "Believe it or not, he was struggling against that team. They were making him work. It was good to get him out of there after five to save him for as many games as you can."

"We had about a nine-run lead, I think" Cox said. "(Smoltz) is still not 100-percent with his shoulder."

Atlanta's offense, which had just 23 hits in 153 at-bats over its recent five-game slide, was one hit away from matching that total in this one. Every Atlanta starter, including Smoltz, had at least one hit in a season-high 22-hit attack.

"If a team was overdue to break out of it, it was our team," Cox said. "It was a good night. Everybody chipped in and swung the bats well."

"It all evens out," Jones said. "It's a crazy game. It's cyclical."

The 22-hits were the most smashed by the Braves in a game since April 18, 1999 when the club collected 24 hits at Colorado.

Rookie Yunel Escobar had four hits and scored four times. Jones, Edgar Renteria, Jeff Francoeur and Matt Diaz all added three hits.

Brian McCann smashed his seventh homer - a two-run shot - in the sixth.

Bowie allowed six runs and nine hits with two walks and two strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings. The lefthander has allowed 11 earned runs in 6 2/3 frames at Turner Field.

"This is not the first team I've broken out of a slump," Bowie said. "I've done it throughout my career. They got a lot of balls to hit and they hit them. Every time I made a mistake, it showed up on the board."

Ryan Church had two hits for the Nationals, who surrendered the most hits in Washington history.