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Jones' duo too much for Dodgers as Braves win

Jul 5, 2007 - 5:57 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Sooner or later, Chipper and Andruw Jones were going to find a way to produce against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Chipper Jones had two RBI and Andruw Jones homered as the Atlanta Braves posted a 5-2 victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday.

The Jones-Jones combination, who had combined for a .156 (5-for-32) batting average and no RBI against Los Angeles this season leading up to Wednesday's contest, broke through their struggles against the Dodgers together.

With two on and two out in the fifth, Chipper Jones broke up a scoreless tie by stroking a single into shallow center and pushing across Chuck James and rookie Yunel Escobar. Since he returned from the disabled list on June 13, the switch-hitter is hitting .384 (28-for-73) with 12 RBI.

"That hit was big," Chipper Jones said. "It kind of busted it open and broke the seal."

Andruw Jones, who is off to his slowest home run pace since 2004, went deep for the second time in four games in the seventh inning, sending a pitch from Dodger reliever Chin-hui Tsao over the fence in left for his 14th homer. As a result of the solo shot, the Atlanta cleanup hitter scored the 1,000th run of his career, becoming just the third player in franchise history to reach that mark.

"He got all of it," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "That hit helped. They all do against a lineup like that. They're a good ballclub."

However, Andruw Jones' struck out four times, adding to his continued batting woes that have seen him hover around the .200 mark for the last 12 games. So deep are his struggles that since the beginning of June, Jones has hit just .156 (19-for-122).

Escobar added three hits and an RBI for the Braves, who snapped their three-game losing streak.

"What a game Escobar had," Cox said. "You can't talk about that game without talking about him. He had a few hits and (if) that sacrifice fly he had could've dropped in, (he would have broke) that game wide open."

James (8-7) recorded his third win in his last four outings, yielding one run and four hits with two walks and three strikeouts over five frames.

"I'll take it without a doubt," James said. "I didn't have the feel for my changeup. I pretty much just went with my fastball. They hit the ball hard but right at people. I used the whole field tonight."

"Chucky pitched OK, the five innings," Cox said. "He didn't have his best stuff but he got through it. That's all you can ask for in that situation."

Four relievers allowed a run and three hits over the next three innings before turning it over to closer Bob Wickman, who worked around a hit and a walk in the ninth to notch his 15th save in 19 opportunities.

"Our bullpen was effective tonight," Jeff Francoeur said. "To finally get a win tonight is big. We gain a game in the standings, maybe another one before the break and we'll be right where we want to be."

Mark Hendrickson (2-4), who was making his first start since occupying the starting spot left behind by recently demoted Hong-Chih Kuo, surrendered two runs and seven hits over five innings, striking out four.

"I thought I had some rhythm with my changeup," Hendrickson. "Even though I gave up some hits, I like the swings I was getting."

"He did an outstanding job for his first start back," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "We had opportunities to capitalize on and it didn't work out for us tonight."

Brett Tomko, who continued to struggle, gave up two runs and retired only one of the five batters he faced. In his past four games, Tomko has given up 24 hits and 13 runs in 12 innings.

"It's going to take some clean innings for him to get back on track," Little said. "The only way he's going to regain his confidence is to get back out there. We believe in him."

Juan Pierre had three hits for Los Angeles, which saw its three-game winning streak halted.