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McCann, Braves jolt Padres

Jul 14, 2008 - 12:23 AM SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- All-Star catcher Brian McCann belted a solo homer and drove in three runs as the Atlanta Braves cruised to a 12-3 triumph over the San Diego Padres on Sunday.

Mark Teixeira's two-run single highlighted a three-run first inning and Brent Lillibridge had a career-high three hits for Atlanta, which gave Bobby Cox his 2,300 managerial victory. Cox, who has 1,945 victories with the Braves, is the winningest manager in team history.

"Oh, I didn't know that," Cox said of his accomplishment. "Now I can tell my wife because she always asks me and I tell her I don't have a clue. (Winning) 2,300, that means I'm getting old and hanging around. We should be winning more, winning a lot more games."

McCann, who leads all major league catchers with 18 home runs, belted a solo shot in the seventh inning to give Atlanta a 9-2 lead.

He then jump-started a three-run ninth with a run-scoring double.

"I've been taking a better approach," McCann said. "I felt dangerous in May for six weeks or so, but then struggled for a month. I'm just trying to get in a hitter's position and want to be ready for anything. If it's in the zone, I'm going to hit it.

"It's good to be locked in. It's one of those things where you try to stay locked in for as long as you can. You're going to slump. Baseball is an up and down game. It's just baseball."

That was more than enough offense for Jorge Campillo (4-4), who allowed two runs and five hits while striking out four in six innings. The 29-year-old rookie righthander left the game in the top of the seventh after fouling a ball off his left foot.

"It's fine," Campillo said of his foot. "It was just tingling then, but it's fine now."

Kevin Kouzmanoff and rookie Chase Headley belted solo home runs for San Diego, which fell for the 19th time in its last 25 contests.

Randy Wolf (6-9) allowed six runs and six hits in five innings to take the loss.

"It took him a while to get going," San Diego manager Bud Black said of Wolf. "He threw a lot of pitches in the first, got out of the second inning OK and in the 3-4-5 innings, I thought he threw the ball well. Through five innings, he had given up four hits."