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Morton, Francoeur power Braves past Padres

Jul 13, 2008 - 5:58 AM By Tim Powers PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Charlie Morton pitched 5 1/3 effective innings and Jeff Francoeur hit a decisive two-run single to lift the Atlanta Braves to a 4-1 victory over the San Diego Padres and even the three-game series at one apiece.

Morton (2-2) allowed one run and four hits to pick up his first victory since making his major league debut on June 14. The rookie righthander struck out for batters and did not issue a walk.

Will Ohman recorded two outs in the sixth and Blaine Boyer contributed two scoreless frames before Mike Gonzalez retired the side in order in the ninth to convert his third save in as many chances this season.

"The guys made some good plays behind me and we had some pretty good offense," Morton said. "It's going to be a progressive thing for me in terms of how I feel. Tonight, I felt like I had a lot more life on the ball."

Francoeur broke a 1-1 tie with a single in the sixth that brought home a pair of runs against San Diego starter Greg Maddux, who is still searching for his first win since May 10, when he notched career victory No. 351.

"The way our pitcher was pitching, I felt like it was game over after that," Francoeur said. "(Maddux) was great tonight. We kept going along and piecing hits together, which is something we haven't done too much."

The four-time Cy Young Award winner Maddux (3-8) has gone 0-5 over 12 starts since his last win. He yielded three runs on six hits over seven innings while striking out three and walking two.

"I enjoy being out there and enjoy the opportunity to pitch," Maddux said. "I'd rather be losing than not pitching at all."

"It's extremely frustrating," Padres manager Bud Black said. "He's pitched well enough, one might say, to have double-digit wins. He's a professional, he goes out there every fifth day and competes as well as anyone I've been around. It's great to see."

The 42-year-old Maddux added to his lofty resume with a unique distinction when he stole second base in the third, making him the oldest pitcher in major league history to record a stolen base in a game.

"They weren't holding me on," Maddux said. "I was trying to make something happen. We haven't been scoring too many runs. If I get thrown out there, what's the big deal? We have our leadoff hitter up."

Brent Lillibridge hit his first major league home run in the ninth, a solo shot off reliever Joe Thatcher that pushed the lead to 4-1.

Chipper Jones added three hits for the Braves, who had lost three of four.

Jody Gerut doubled home the lone run for the struggling Padres, who have lost 18 of their last 24 games.

"We just got beat tonight," Black said. "We didn't swing the bats. We've got to do a better job of stringing games together where we have some offense to go along with the good pitching."