Jones, Braves Power Past Brewers

Posted: 11:46 pm CDT July 24, 2009

(Sports Network) - Chipper Jones went 3-for-4 with two walks and broke a tie score with a solo homer in the sixth inning, and Javier Vazquez threw seven effective frames to lead Atlanta to a 9-4 win over the Brewers.

Martin Prado added a home run and four RBI for the Braves, winners in five of their last six games. Nate McLouth filled the box score with two hits -- including a home run -- three runs scored, two RBI, two walks and a stolen base for Atlanta, which rattled off 17 hits in the win.

"We had more hits tonight than we've had all season in one game," Braves managed Bobby Cox said. "This ballpark plays real small and there's not a lot of room for balls to fall in."

Vazquez (8-7) fanned nine and yielded four runs on seven hits for the victors.

Carlos Villanueva (2-7) took the loss behind Manny Parra, who gave up four runs on 10 hits and three walks in his five-inning start.

Ryan Braun tripled and hit a two-run homer, and Craig Counsell went 2-for-3 with two RBI for Milwaukee, which fell to a woeful 6-13 in the month of July.

Jones' blast off Villanueva in the sixth frame gave Atlanta a 5-4 edge.

The Brewers had a runner on second with one out in the seventh, but Vazquez bore down and struck out Braun and Prince Fielder, the fourth time the Home Run Derby winner went down swinging in the game.

"I just missed the ball. I didn't make any contact," Fielder said. "I was hitting line drives to the catcher."

McLouth followed Greg Norton's pinch-hit, leadoff single in the eighth with his 15th home run of the year off Chris Smith. Garret Anderson singled home Jones later in the inning, and Prado chipped in a run-scoring single in the ninth for a comfortable five-run lead.

The Braves drew first blood in the second when Casey Kotchman's groundout scored Yunel Escobar.

Vazquez and McLouth doubled and walked, respectively, to open the third in front of Prado, who smacked a three-run homer over the left-field wall.

Counsell cut Milwaukee's deficit in half with a two-run double in the bottom half, and Braun tied the game with his opposite-field home run in the fifth.

The homer ended the Braves' streak of consecutive innings pitched without giving up a home run at 78. It was their first home run allowed since July 12 at Colorado.

Game Notes

Vazquez had given up just five total runs in his previous five starts. The Braves have won each of his past four trips to the rubber...Anderson finished with three hits, while McLouth, Escobar, Prado and Matt Diaz each had two for Atlanta...Brian McCann went 0-for-6, the only Braves starter not to record a hit. His hit streak ended at 11 games.

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