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Escobar lifts Braves past Marlins

Aug 27, 2008 - 5:09 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Somewhere under the rainbow, luck flowed the way of the Atlanta Braves for a change.

Yunel Escobar drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth to lead the snakebitten Braves to a 10-9 come-from-behind win over the Florida Marlins on Tuesday.

Atlanta trailed by as many as four runs and looked just like a club that had won just two of its last 14 games entering Tuesday until the fateful ninth.

But on a night where the Braves' bullpen at Turner Field appeared to be the proverbial end of the rainbow as the skies cleared after the last of the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay left the Atlanta, a little bit of good fortune shined on the Braves in an otherwise dismal 2008 campaign.

"It was fun to win this game," Braves rookie Gregor Blanco said. "We had a lot of fun. You've got to support each other and we did it tonight."

After closing the deficit to 8-6 in the eighth, Atlanta trailed by three entering the bottom of the ninth facing Gregg (6-7).

The Florida closer struck out Chipper Jones with the bases-loaded to end an Atlanta threat in the eighth, but the Atlanta bats came back with a vengeance an inning later.

Omar Infante lead off the frame with a single before Martin Prado cut the lead to 9-7 with a double. Jeff Francoeur brought Atlanta within one with a run-scoring single. Gregg then loaded the bases on a single to Kelly Johnson and an intentional walk to Mark Kotsay.

Rookie Gregor Blanco capped an 11-pitch at-bat by hitting a tailor-made double play ball to Dan Uggla at second base. But after recording the out at second base, Hanley Ramirez could not get the ball out of his glove, allowing Francoeur to score and prolonging Atlanta's rally.

Escobar capitalized on the miscue, smashing the next pitch in the hole between first and second, plating Kelly Johnson to give Atlanta an improbable win.

"I thought that was so cool the way we came back and won tonight," Francoeur said. "We had so many clutch hits that inning to keep it going. The ninth inning was fun."

Making the win even more unlikely is that Kotsay, who was scratched from the starting lineup as trade talks with the Boston Red Sox heated up, pinch hit in the ninth and helped break up the double play at second base by sliding hard into Ramirez.

"It was my weirdest night as a player in the big leagues," Kotsay said. "I've never been scratched for that type of reason. ? (What I did to Ramirez) is playing the game. Anytime you put me in the game, I am going to play hard."

Ironically, the deal was rumored to be complete pending a physical according to a Yahoo! Sports report 30 minutes before Kotsay's heroics.

Not so fast.

"It's good that he wasn't gone," said Jones, who played in his 2,000th game. "He helped us win a game. Scared them enough to coax an intentional walk and was able to get a piece of Hanley (Ramirez) on the double play. He's a good ballplayer. I'd love to keep him."

The Braves didn't look or sound like a team that had traded their starting center fielder just yet.

"They've been talking all day," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "And they're still talking."

Will Ohman (4-0) allowed an RBI double to Cody Ross in the ninth to record the win.

"Giving up that one run in the (top of the) ninth, that should have sealed the deal," Jones said. "One thing I'm proud about these guys is we didn't quit. We show up and play the game, and play the game hard."

With the loss, third-place Florida (67-65) moved six games behind the New York Mets (73-59) in the National League East Division pending the completion of the Mets extra-innings contest against the Philadelphia Phillies.

"It (stinks)," Gregg said of the loss. "You can't lose games like that when you're running out of time. You can't let a game like that get away."

"This could be the game that breaks the camel's back," reliever Joe Nelson added. "It hurts as a team. Every loss this time of the year hurts."

Florida spotted Atlanta a three-run lead in the first before Ross smashed his 19th homer of the season to cut the lead to 3-2 in the second. The Marlins centerfielder finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs in the contest.

A bad bounced helped Florida take a 6-3 edge in the third.

Ramirez lead off the frame with a triple before scoring on Gonzalez's double to knot the contest at 3-3. Jorge Cantu followed with a single before Atlanta starter Jair Jurrjens hit Willingham to load the bases. Uggla smashed a cue shot down about 25 feet down the first base line that bounced a few feet into foul territory.

But in a season where just about everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for the Braves, the ball had some wicked topspin on it and ricocheted into fair territory, allowing Luis Gonzalez to score to give the Marlins a 4-3 lead.

"That was crazy," said Jurrjens, who allowed six runs and six hits over three-plus frames. "I thought that was the best pitch I threw the whole game. When things are not going your way, things (like that) happen to you."

Jacobs gave Florida a 8-4 lead with a two-run blast in the seventh before Atlanta cut the lead to 8-6 on a pair of two-out walks with the bases loaded in the eighth.

Scott Olsen allowed four runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings for the Marlins, who have not won back-to-back games since July 30-31.