Phoenix, AZ - Chipper Jones drove in five runs and Tim Hudson scattered three hits over seven shutout innings as Atlanta trounced Arizona, 14-0, in the finale of a three-game set.
Hudson (11-5) fanned five and walked one, improving to 4-0 lifetime against Arizona.
Jeff Francoeur went 3-for-5 and scored twice for the Braves, who picked up runs in each of the first seven innings to stop a four-game slide and avoid a sweep in Phoenix. Willie Harris was 2-for-3 with four runs scored, while Kelly Johnson and Andruw Jones both drove in a pair of runs. Edgar Renteria, Yunel Escobar and Julio Franco each contributed two hits and a run scored.
D-Backs starter Livan Hernandez (6-7) was tagged for eight runs and eight hits with three walks and no strikeouts over four innings. Eric Byrnes tripled for the D-Backs, who saw their eight-game winning streak ended.
The Braves put up three runs in the first. Harris walked and moved to third on Renteria’s double. The elder Jones knocked in one with a sacrifice fly, then the younger Jones smacked a two-run homer to center — his 20th of the season. It is the 10th consecutive year he has reached the mark.
The onslaught continued in the second as Chipper hit a bases-clearing double to make it 6-0. Ageless wonder Julio Franco added a one-out RBI single in the third for a 7-0 game, and Jones recorded his fifth RBI of the game with a fourth-inning sac fly.
Dustin Nippert took the hill in the fifth, but Atlanta continued to pour it on, scoring twice more on Johnson’s double. Chris Woodward made it 11-0 in the sixth on a run-scoring double, then scored their 12th run of the contest when Nippert uncorked a wild pitch with Jeff Francoeur at the plate.
In the seventh against Edgar Gonzalez, Scott Thorman hit a lead-off homer and Escobar added an RBI single for a 14-0 game.
Jose Ascanio pitched a scoreless eighth and Bob Wickman followed with a scoreless ninth to close out the contest.
Game Notes
The Braves also won 14-0 in the back end of a May 19 doubleheader at Fenway Park…Atlanta set a new franchise-record with 10 doubles in the game…Arizona had won six straight and eight of nine meetings dating back to May, 2006…The Braves completed their seven-game road trip at 3-4…Both Joneses had not recorded an RBI in the same game since July 17…Hernandez failed to strike out a batter for the first time since June 20, 2006 against Boston…Attendance was 30,535.
