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Teixeira homers in debut, Braves crush Astros again

Aug 2, 2007 - 4:02 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) - The Atlanta Braves' offense just keeps on rolling.

Mark Teixeira homered and drove in four runs in his Atlanta debut and a seven-run first inning led to a 12-3 shellacking of the woeful Houston Astros on Wednesday.

The Atlanta offense has been clicking on all cylinders, scoring 38 runs over its last three games. The Braves' offense got another boost on Tuesday when the club added the potent bat of Teixeira at the trade deadline.

The 27-year old Teixeira wasted no time stating his case why the trade for three of the club's top prospects was a good one.

The former Georgia Tech standout drove in the first run of the game with a bases loaded walk in the first.

With Atlanta leading 8-2 in the sixth, Teixeira provided the exclamation point, hitting a 2-1 pitch from Matt Albers over the left-center field wall for a three-run homer - his 14th of the season and first as a Brave.

"I was ready to play today at 10:30 this morning," said Teixeira, who became the first Atlanta player to homer in his Braves' debut since Jeff Franceour homered in his major league debut on July 7, 2005.

"Getting the first one out of the way was nice."

The blast evoked memories of the 1993 season, when the Braves, trailing by as many as 10 games in the National League West, added the potent bat of Fred McGriff to the lineup en route to winning the pennant.

McGriff also homered in his debut on July 20, 1993, a game that was also marred by a memorable pre-game press box fire at Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium.

"Players were monitoring it all night," said Chipper Jones, who was in the minors when McGriff made his Atlanta debut. "We heard that Fred just went deep. It had a huge impact on the second half of the season (that year). We had our first good audition (tonight). Tex had a big night."

However, the only thing on fire in this one was the Atlanta bats.

Matt Diaz added a pair of hits - including a two-run double - in the first for Atlanta, which has won three straight and outscored Houston, 24-7, in the first two games of the series.

The Braves took advantage of a wild Wandy Rodriguez (7-10), who walked three and allowed three runs before recording an out in a seven-run first inning.

Yunel Escobar led off the game with a double and after two consecutive walks, Teixeira was greeted with a standing ovation in his first plate appearance in a Braves uniform.

However, Teixeira did not lift the bat from his shoulders, drawing a bases-loaded walk to drive in the game's first run.

"My first major league at-bat was with the bases load," Teixeira said. "I ended up lining out. You can tell that (Rodriguez) was trying to be perfect. When pitchers are trying to be perfect, sometimes they walk guys."

Andruw Jones followed with a single and Jeff Francoeur drove in a run with a walk. With one-out, Diaz hit a two-run double for a 5-0 lead and one batter later, Escobar plated a pair with a two-out single as the Braves sent 11 men to the plate in the frame.

"We had a lot of help," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "We had a lot of walks in that first inning."

The Atlanta offense continued to badger Houston pitching as Edgar Renteria extended the lead to 8-2 with a solo homer - his 11th of the season - off Rodriguez in the fourth.

Buddy Carlyle (6-3) was staked to a huge lead and pitched well before leaving after hyper-extending his right elbow at the plate in the bottom of the fifth.

The 29-year old journeyman allowed two runs, five hits and struck out two without a walk in five frames to record his fourth win in five decisions.

"(My elbow) is fine," Carlyle said. "I've done it in the past. It's going to be fine."

Carlyle was relieved by Oscar Villareal, who allowed a run in two innings. Ron Mahay, who was acquired from Texas along with Teixeira, made his debut by throwing a scoreless eighth.

Octavio Dotel, who was acquired in a separate trade with the Royals on Tuesday, provided a scoreless ninth.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez continued an unusual trend, falling to 1-8 on the road as opposed to a 6-2 mark at home. The righthander allowed eight runs and six hits in four innings with a season-high five walks.

"I felt good," Rodriguez said. "I don't know what happened."

Rodriguez became the latest Astros pitcher to get pounded as the staff has allowed 42 runs in the last three games.

"It's a little embarrassing for both the pitching staff and the catchers," catcher Brad Ausmus said. "We were terrible Sunday, yesterday and today. But that has no bearing on what will happen tomorrow."

Lance Berkman hit solo homer in the fourth - his 18th of the season - for the Astros, who have lost three straight and are a National League-worst 18-36 on the road.