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Braves hope to continue offensive outburst

Jul 9, 2008 - 12:53 PM Atlanta (43-48) at LA Dodgers (44-46) 10:10 pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Brian McCann attempts to follow up his first multi-homer game in nearly a year on Wednesday as the Atlanta Braves meet the Los Angeles Dodgers in the rubber match of their three-game set.

Atlanta, which narrowly avoided a perfect game by Hiroki Kuroda on Monday, was held hitless through four innings on Tuesday by Chad Billingsley. Another slow start figured to spell doom for the Braves, who had scored eight total runs over their last six losses.

However, a three-run double in the fifth by Yunel Escobar broke open a scoreless tie before McCann hit the first of two solo homers for his first multi-homer game since July 13, 2007.

Tim Hudson (9-6, 3.19 ERA) hopes McCann and the Braves can repeat the offensive display when he takes the mound in the series finale. The righthander yielded just one run and four hits over seven frames in Friday's 6-2 win over Houston, striking out six to win for the second time in three outings.

The Dodgers, who will be chasing their fourth straight series win, will counter with Derek Lowe (6-8, 4.02). In Friday's 10-7 win in San Francisco, the sinkerballer surrendered five runs - four earned - and eight hits over five innings.