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Blanco drives in three as Braves top Angels

Jun 14, 2008 - 5:12 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Gregor Blanco drove in three runs and Jo-Jo Reyes pitched eight strong innings to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in an interleague game on Friday.

Chipper Jones missed the game after suffering a left eye contusion in batting practice. The major league batting leader at .414, Jones fouled a ball off the top of the batting cage which then ricocheted back into his face.

Jones was taken to the hospital where X-rays were negative. He is listed as day-to-day.

"He wanted to play," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "He's good to go and he'll be in the lineup (Saturday)."

Forced to shuffle their lineup, the Braves received some unexpected production out of the No. 9 spot in the batting order where Blanco picked up the slack for his fallen teammate.

"Scary when our best hitter (Chipper Jones) got smoked in the eye and we told him that we could pick him up offensively tonight," Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur said.

Trailing 2-1 in the fourth inning, Atlanta leveled the contest on Omar Infante's RBI double. Blanco followed and immediately gave the Braves the lead, plating Infante with a single up the middle.

"Today, I worked on hitting the outside pitch in batting practice and I got some good pitches to hit tonight," Blanco said. "Just feels good to contribute and get a win tonight."

Blanco provided some insurance in the sixth, driving in two more with another single to center to provide the winning margin.

"With Chipper out, we got some good production at the bottom of the lineup which helped us a lot tonight," Cox said.

Reyes (3-4) earned his first win since May 18 by allowing two runs and five hits while striking out five and walking two. The 23-year-old lefthander, who beat Oakland earlier in the season, improved to a perfect 2-0 in interleague play.

"The team gave me an opportunity to win by giving me run support," Reyes said. "I just tried to throw strikes early and get ahead of their guys. I just try to make one pitch at a time and get outs."

Angels starter Jon Garland (6-4) took the loss, surrendering five runs and 12 hits while walking one and striking out four.

"I just didn't have my best stuff," Garland said. "There wasn't much movement on my pitches tonight and it seemed like they hit every pitch hard."

Mark Teixeira had three hits for the Braves and Brian McCann, who moved into Jones' No. 3 spot in the batting order, added two hits.

"We knew that without Chipper, we had to pick up the slack offensively," McCann said. "It was a big win for us, and hope we get him back soon."