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Braves club Phillies, inch closer in wild card race

Sep 26, 2007 - 4:21 AM By Vince DiGregorio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) - Somebody forgot to tell the National League that the Atlanta Braves are part of the wild card race.

Atlanta scored four runs in the sixth inning and went on to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-6, in the opener of a crucial three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

The Braves (83-74) won for the eighth time in their last nine games and moved within 2 1/2 games of the San Diego Padres (85-71) for the NL wild card. The Phillies (85-72) fell a half-game behind San Diego.

"We have to win, we know that," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "We're gonna give it our best shot and keep plugging."

With Atlanta trailing, 5-4, Jeff Francoeur opened the sixth with a double and scored on Andruw Jones' bloop single to shallow center to tie the game at 5-5. One out later, Geoff Geary replaced Phillies starter Jamie Moyer, but Matt Diaz grounded his first pitch for an RBI single to center, giving the Braves a 6-5 lead.

"Everybody was kind of involved tonight," Francoeur said. "We have to win every game on this road trip."

One out later, Yunel Escobar doubled to put runners on second and third. Edgar Renteria followed with a two-run single to right to give Atlanta an 8-5 advantage.

"(Renteria) will shoot the ball to right with the best of them," Cox said. "He's just a professional hitter like we've always thought when we first traded for him. He's always been a tough out and a great RBI guy, always."

Philadelphia's Chase Utley hit his 22nd home run in the seventh to cut the deficit to 8-6, but Chipper Jones blasted a two-run home run off Tom Gordon in the ninth to make it 10-6.

"We couldn't score any more runs and we couldn't hold them," Utley said.

Jones' 28th homer went off the facing of the second deck in right field.

"We want to try and make it as tough on (the other teams) as much as possible," Jones said. "Put as much pressure on people. We got Huddy (Tim Hudson) and Smoltzie (John Smoltz) going the next two games.

"We'll give ourselves the best opportunity to get back in this thing. Anything can happen. We still have faint hopes of the playoffs. We have five games left."

Jeff Bennett (2-0) got the win in relief for Atlanta and combined with four other relievers to limit the Phillies two runs on three hits. Moyer (13-12) took the loss for Philadelphia.

"I thought maybe if we'd hold them, we'd come back in the ninth," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

Moyer seemed to be battling a small strike zone by home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor at the start of the game. Moyer fell behind Escobar 3-0 before Escobar hit a low liner to center for a double that caromed off Aaron Rowand, who dove for the ball.

Moyer then walked Renteria on four pitches. After Chipper Jones popped out, Mark Teixeira drove a 2-2 pitch over the center field fence for a three-run home run to give the Braves a 3-0 lead.

"It's always big to get out front," Teixeira said. "If you can get out to a lead early in the game, it helps your pitcher and it helps the rest of the team."

Teixeira's 15th homer came after he took a couple of close pitches during the at-bat.

"No one puts a lot of pressure on themselves here," Teixeira said. "We have such a good lineup. No one feels like they have to carry the load."

Jimmy Rollins answered for Philadelphia in the bottom half of the first, hitting a 2-2 pitch from Atlanta starter Chuck James into the left-center field seats for his 30th home run of the season to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Rollins hit his ninth leadoff homer of the season and 26th career. He also joined Bobby Abreu as the only Phillies players to have 30 home runs and 30 steals in a season.

Atlanta used a two-out rally in the fourth to increase its margin to 4-1. Andruw Jones lined a double down the left field line and came around to score on a single by Brian McCann.

The Phillies erupted in their half of the frame to tie the score. James had retired 10 in a row before Pat Burrell drew a one-out walk. Ryan Howard then blasted a 2-0 pitch into the Phillies bullpen in right-center for his 43rd home run to pull Philadelphia within 4-3.

After Rowand struck out, Jayson Werth hit a 3-2 pitch over the left-center field wall for his eighth homer to tie the game, 4-4.

James was removed after Werth's blast in favor of Bennett, who got out of the inning.

"In this ballpark, the ball goes," Cox said. "There weren't too many cheap ones hit tonight. ( James) just got in a rut with certain pitches and ... boom."

James went 3 2/3 innings and allowed four runs on three hits, all three of which were home runs. The lefthander walked one and struck out six.

"I just couldn't get the pitches down," James said. "Three pitches kind of cost me."

Burrell gave Philadelphia a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly.

Moyer pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up six runs on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts.