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Aug 9, 2009 - 7:17 AM By DAN PIERINGER STATS Writer

Atlanta (57-54) at Los Angeles (67-44), 4:10 p.m. EDT

The Atlanta Braves' hot hitting faded in their last game. Their timely hitting did not.

After getting their second consecutive victory in extra innings, the Braves go for their fifth win in six games Sunday in the finale of a dramatic four-game road series against the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers.

Atlanta (57-54) totaled 28 runs and 54 hits while winning three of four before Saturday's game against Los Angeles. Though they totaled only three hits in that contest, the Braves got a big one when it counted, riding Kelly Johnson's two-run homer in the 10th inning to a 2-1 victory.

It was the second consecutive win in extra innings for Atlanta, which scored four runs in the 12th of Friday night's 9-5 victory.

"At that point of the game, you're looking for a break," Johnson said. "But you make your own breaks."

The Braves have done a good job of that lately. They're in position to move four games over .500 for the first time since they were 5-1 on April 12.

Saturday's exciting finish was nothing new for fans at Dodger Stadium. Each of the first three games of this series has been decided in the ninth inning or later. The Dodgers (67-44) won Thursday's opener 5-4 on Andre Ethier's walk-off three-run homer in the ninth.

That was one of only five wins in 14 games for Los Angeles. For most of the season, it looked like the Dodgers would run away with the NL West, but their lead over second-place San Francisco has been cut to 5 1/2 games.

"We had our opportunities for sure," Saturday's starter Clayton Kershaw said. "We're just in a stretch where we're not making that big pitch or getting that big hit. We're going to be fine, though."

The Dodgers could have a hard time snapping out of their funk against Javier Vazquez (9-7, 2.99 ERA), who takes the mound for the Braves on Sunday.

Atlanta has won six straight games started by Vazquez as the right-hander has gone 4-0 with a 2.88 ERA. He held San Diego to two runs and four hits in a 9-2 victory Tuesday, improving to 6-2 on the road.

Vazquez is 4-6 with a 4.17 ERA in 14 career starts against Los Angeles, which he hasn't faced since 2005. Manny Ramirez is 6 for 19 (.316) with two homers and seven strikeouts against him. Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake, who got the day off Saturday, has struck out 11 times in 27 career at-bats against Vazquez.

Los Angeles will recall Eric Stults (4-2, 4.80) from Triple-A Albuquerque to start Sunday. The left-hander, who made nine starts with the Dodgers from April 11-May 30, has gone 4-2 with a 3.74 ERA in nine games in the minors since his demotion.

Stults gave up one run in three innings of relief in his only previous appearance against Atlanta on July 5, 2007.

Braves third baseman Chipper Jones has missed consecutive games because of a strained oblique muscle on his left side, and he's still listed as day-to-day. The Braves are 10-9 this season when he doesn't start.