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McCann, Braves break out against Phillies

Sep 3, 2007 - 9:27 PM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) - The Atlanta Braves finally figured out a way to have a big inning with the bases loaded.

Brian McCann doubled home two runs in a three-run fourth and Lance Cormier pitched well into the sixth to lead the Braves to a 5-1 win over the struggling Philadelphia Phillies on Monday.

Atlanta (70-68) struggled in their three-game set against the New York Mets (77-60), scoring just four runs and smashing just one extra-base hit, falling seven games behind the Mets in the National League East.

The Phillies (72-65) were two games back of the Mets entering Saturday. But Philadelphia has dropped its last three contests to fall five games behind New York.

"We got beat three out of the last four games," Phillies starter Jamie Moyer said. "Those four wins against New York don't mean as much at this point."

In a battle between two struggling clubs, it was the Braves who snapped out of their funk.

Atlanta, which loaded the bases three times with one or no outs in the series against the Mets - but scored just one run on each occasion - was faced with a similar situation in the fourth inning.

But this time, the Braves' offense finally came through.

Mark Teixeira opened the frame with a seven-pitch walk ahead of Jeff Francoeur, who singled to right field on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. Andruw Jones laced an infield single off Phillies Moyer (12-11) to load the bases.

McCann, who collected Atlanta's lone extra-base hit against the Mets in the ninth inning of Sunday's contest, followed with a one-hop double off the right field wall, plating Teixeira and Francoeur to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead.

"(Moyer) got a pitch over the plate," McCann said. "I've been missing a lot lately. I was happy to not miss in this situation."

"That was a huge hit for McCann to get those two runs in," Teixeira added. "There's no more time to waste. There's no more looking to the future. (The time to win is) now."

Kelly Johnson scored Jones on a sacrifice fly to shallow center field. Jones scored ahead of the throw by center fielder Aaron Rowand, which sailed over Carlos Ruiz's head, advancing McCann to third base.

"We've been doing well with the bases loaded, but lately, we haven't," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "The bats came to life a little bit."

After pinch hitter Brayan Pena singled home McCann to pad the advantage to 4-1 in the sixth, the Braves once again loaded the bases with no outs off Philadelphia reliever Tom Gordon in the seventh.

But Atlanta could only muster one run on Francoeur's sacrifice fly.

Cormier (2-4) made sure that the Phillies' woes continued. The righthander surrendered one run and four hits, walking one and striking out five in 5 2/3 innings to record his second consecutive win.

The 26-year-old Cormier, who allowed 26 runs in his first six appearances this season, has allowed just three over his last 12 2/3 frames.

"I feel very good," Cormier said. "I feel like I am right there where I needed to be. It was good to get a win today."

Cormier, who has allowed 13 homers in his first eight appearances, kept the ball in the park. The righthander did not allow a homer for the first time as a starter this season.

"I kept the ball down better today," Cormier said. "I worked down in the zone."

He hurled 59 of 99 pitches for strikes before he was lifted with runners at the corners with two outs in the sixth. But Peter Moylan thwarted the threat by inducing Pat Burrell to foul out to end the frame.

Manny Acosta, Tyler Yates and Rafael Soriano each hurled a frame to finish the game.

Burrell plated Chase Utley with a single in the fourth for the Phillies' lone run. Utley had three of the four hits for the Phillies.

"Today wasn't our day," Utley said. "We really didn't swing the bats really well. We couldn't get anything started. Playing two day games in a row doesn't help, but it is what it is. You have to try to overcome it."

Moyer (12-11) allowed four runs and nine hits, walking two and striking out seven in 5 2/3 frames.

Philadelphia fell to 1-3 on its six-game road trip.

"It's a long season," Moyer said. "We went through a big high in Philadelphia in the Mets series. We went to through Florida, and we didn't play as well as we should have.

"Those series are behind us. We wanted to win the first game. Unfortunately, we didn't. We have to find a way to recreate some momentum and turn this trip (around)."