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Prado helps Braves rally past Brewers

Sep 24, 2007 - 12:15 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) - Time is running out for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Martin Prado's two-out, RBI-single plated the go-ahead run and capped a four-run seventh inning as the Atlanta Braves rallied for a 7-4 victory over the Brewers on Sunday.

With the disappointing loss, the Brewers (79-76) fell 3 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs (82-73) in the National League Central Division with seven contests left.

"I was trying to swing at the pitch," Prado said. "I was just trying to have a good at-bat and hit the ball hard. It ended up good."

With six games left on its slate, Atlanta (82-74) is 5 1/2 games behind the New York Mets (87-68) in the National League East and 3 1/2 games behind the San Diego Padres (85-69) for the NL wild card.

"(Our chances are) slim," Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones said. "I'm a realist. We're going to go out and play hard. We're going to play like there's something.

"But too may teams have to lose a lot of games for just to come back. I've been around baseball a long time. I've seen one team collapse, but not three or four."

With staff ace Ben Sheets sidelined with a hamstring injury, the Brewers sent bad-luck charm Chris Capuano to the hill. Milwaukee has lost the last 21 games in which he has made an appearance, including this one.

Capuano pitched well, allowing one run, seven hits, and one walk while striking out five in five innings. However, his bad luck continued when Claudio Vargas and the Brewers' bullpen imploded in the seventh.

"(Capuano) pitched great, pitched his heart out," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "Vargas, too. We should have been out of (the seventh) twice with the lead."

Edgar Renteria laced a one-out double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch, to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Mark Teixeira followed with an infield hit and Vargas issued a walk to Jeff Francoeur, to bring up Andruw Jones.

Andruw Jones, who may have been playing his last home game in a Braves uniform, was batting .097 with runners and scoring position and two outs since the All-Star Break. Nevertheless, the slugger delivered as he plated Teixeira with a single to cut the deficit to 4-3.

"Every game is good when you win," Andruw Jones said. "I don't know if it's my last game (at home for the Braves) or not. I don't have no say in it. You got to ask (Braves general manager) John Schuerholz. I just go out and play the game. I love this game."

On the play Bill Hall bobbled the ball in center field and Francoeur broke toward third. Francoeur then decided to retreat back to second and barely beat the tag.

"The throw definitely beat me there," Francoeur said. "I thought I made a good little juke move with my right hand when he tried to tag it."

The 'safe' call was disputed by Milwaukee manager Ned Yost, who was ejected after a fiery argument with second base umpire Chris Guccione.

"It's a joke," Yost said. "With games of the implication of this right here and we get this kind of effort (from the umpires). You've got kids busting their (expletive) and you get this kind of effort."

Matt Diaz chased Vargas and tied the game with a base hit up the middle before Prado plated Jones with a pinch-hit single off reliever Ray King to give Atlanta the lead.

Manny Acosta (1-1) pitched a scoreless seventh to pick up his first major league win and Rafael Soriano worked around a single in the ninth to nail down his ninth save.

Milwaukee Rookie of the Year candidate Ryan Braun hit 32nd home run and drove in three runs.

Atlanta start Jo-Jo Reyes allowed four runs - three earned - and four hits while walking two and striking out two in 5 1/3 innings.

Teixeira padded the Braves lead in the eighth with a two-run double to help the Braves win for the seventh time in eight games.

Yost said he felt his team was done in by the umpires.

"There's got to be some accountability somewhere in the ranks," he said. "That was unbelievable ... and (the umpires) got the nerve to smile. Have a little professionalism involved too."