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Chipper's bat, Harris' glove leads Braves past Mets

Aug 9, 2007 - 9:00 PM FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Braves are not going away in the National League East race. In case the New York Mets forgot, long-time nemesis Chipper Jones gave them a not-so-subtle reminder.

Jones hit a mammoth three-run home run as part of back-to-back blasts with Mark Teixeira in the fifth inning and Tim Hudson won his seventh straight decision as the Braves held on for a 7-6 victory over the Mets in the rubber game of their three-game series on Thursday.

"Chipper hit one of the longest home runs I've ever seen in this ballpark," Braves manager Bobby Cox said.

The Braves (61-54) bounced back after squandering a late two-run lead on Wednesday night to win for the seventh time in 10 games and move within 3 1/2 games of the first place Mets (64-50) for the division lead.

While Jones was the offensive star, left fielder Willie Harris - a converted infielder - was the defensive star.

After David Wright hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth to pull the Mets within 7-6, Harris took away a potential game-tying homer off the bat of Carlos Delgado by making a leaping catch at the left field wall.

"I was already back there because we were trying to avoid the double," Harris said. "I thought it was a regular fly ball. I thought I could get back and make the play."

Atlanta improved to 11-2 in games started by Hudson following a Braves defeat. The righthander was not at his best, but pitched six effective innings and benefited from a four-run fifth off Mets starter John Maine.

Hudson reached on a broken-bat single to open the fifth and Harris walked before Kelly Johnson grounded into a fielder's choice. Jones followed with a 470-foot home run off the scoreboard in right-center field.

Jones has 19 homers this season and belted the 38th of his career against the Mets, tying him with San Francisco's Barry Bonds for the most among active players, one ahead of Pat Burrell of Philadelphia.

In 83 career games at Shea Stadium, Jones has 19 homers and 53 RBI.

"I don't think it has anything to do with the Mets," Cox said. "He just likes to play ball."

Teixeira followed with his fourth homer for the Braves since being acquired at the trade deadline, increasing Atlanta's lead to 5-2.

Hudson (13-5), who has not lost since June 4, allowed three runs and nine hits in six innings.

"It was a grind-it out-type of game," Hudson said, "I didn't have my best stuff. It was a bend but not break type of game."

Ron Mahay and Peter Moylan each pitched a scoreless inning before former Met Tyler Yates nearly squandered a 7-3 lead in the ninth. Yates gave up three runs, including Wright's 20th homer of the season.

With closer Bob Wickman unavailable due to forearm stiffness, Braves manager Bobby Cox went to Oscar Villarreal, who benefited from Harris' huge play before he got Moises Alou to ground out to third, securing his first career save.

"When I threw the pitch I thought it was a line drive to the left fielder," Villarreal said. "I just saw Willie run."

Mets manager Willie Randolph shuffled his rotation to have Maine (12-7) start against the Braves, but the righthander was ineffective for the second straight start, allowing six runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. Maine was tagged for six runs over 2 2/3 innings last Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.

"He'll be fine. He's been one of our best pitchers all year," Randolph said. "He'll bounce back."

Hudson drove in a run with a squeeze bunt in the sixth and the Braves scored a run in the seventh when Jeff Francouer grounded into a double play.

One of the few bright spots for the Mets was Wright, who had been 1-for-30 in his last eight games against the Braves before collecting an RBI single in the first.

"They out played us, They have our number said Wright," noting that the Mets have lost eight of 12 games to the Braves. "We have to prove we can beat these guys."

Alou had an RBI single in the third.

Atlanta plated a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Andruw Jones.

Delgado had an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-3. New York had a chance to get even closer, but Ramon Castro popped out to shortstop with two outs and the bases loaded.

Mets center fielder Marlon Anderson left the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with a sprained left wrist.