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| Norton helps Braves rally past Marlins ATLANTA 5, FLORIDA 4 |
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By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Braves refuse to lose at Turner Field. Greg Norton delivered a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning, leading the Braves to a 5-4 triumph over the Florida Marlins on Tuesday. Chipper Jones belted his 399th career home run - a three-run shot in the first inning - for Atlanta, which also rallied to top Florida in the series opener on Monday after blowing a ninth-inning lead. "It was nice," Jones said. "The last two games haven't been pretty, but we got the job done." Dan Uggla homered twice and drove in three runs for the Marlins, who have lost six of their last seven games. Will Ohman (3-0) worked around a hit and a walk in the eighth and Rafael Soriano retired the side in order in the ninth to pick up his second save for the Braves, who improved to a National League-best 24-7 at home this season. Atlanta has looked like two completely different teams at home and on the road the season. The club has dominated inside of the friendly confines of Turner Field but has been unable the catch a break on the road, dropping a major league-worst 21 of 28 games. "Maybe we'll wear our white shirts on the road," Norton said of the Braves' home jerseys. "It's a big win. It's June, but every win counts." A little bit of good old Southern luck led to yet another win in their home white uniforms on Tuesday. Jones ignited the late rally with a leadoff single to left field and Mark Teixeira followed with a double, setting the stage for struggling Norton. Apparently, there was some of that magic at Turner Field left for even Norton, who was batting a paltry .163 entering the at-bat. He laced the first pitch he saw from Matt Lindstrom (1-1) past diving first baseman Mike Jacobs for a double, plating Jones and Teixeira to erase a 4-3 deficit. "My thought is that since it is a comedy (playing) left field, is that I'm trying to drive in more runs than I give up," said the converted first baseman who made a couple of adventurous catches in the outfield. "I don't think that (Braves manager Bobby Cox) is playing me for my defense. He's hoping I can get a hit." "That guy throws a million miles per hour," Jones said of Lindstrom. "I got a ball to fall and Teixeira popped one. I was happy for Greg. He's been playing well for us, but he hasn't gotten a lot to fall in. It was good to see him get a big hit." The opportunistic hit made a winner of Ohman, who also was the beneficiary of Monday's comeback. Soriano breezed through the ninth to record his first save since April 6. Norton's heroics capped another successful night for the Braves and their best hitter. Jones, who finished 2-for-4 to raise his major league-leading average to .409, also moved within one of 400 career homers by belting a shot off Florida starter Burke Badenhop in the first to give Atlanta a 3-1 advantage. With the blast, Jones moved past Braves legend Dale Murphy and into a tie with Al Kaline and former Brave Andres Galarraga for 43rd place on the all-time list. He will join Hall of Famers Eddie Murray (504) and Mickey Mantle (536) as the only switch hitters to blast at least 400 homers with his next shot. "It's really crazy. I don't ever think about that kind of stuff until you bring it up," Jones said. "And it is making me blush. I looked up to Murphy and worked with Murphy in my adolescent years in baseball. "I played with 'Cat' (Galarraga). Bobby compared me to Kaline back in my younger days. These names to be compared to makes me really proud." Atlanta's offensive heroics overshadowed a sensational night by Uggla, who collected his third multi-homer game of the season. A former Rule 5 draft pick, Uggla - who hit a franchise-record 12 homers in May - drew his club within 3-2 with a solo blast into the right field seats off Atlanta starter Jorge Campillo in the second inning. Two frames later, the slugger bashed his 18th of the season over the left field wall for his eighth career multi-homer performance. "(The two home runs) didn't matter when you didn't win the game," Uggla said. "Winning is all that matters. (The homers) put us on top for a while." Campillo, who entered this one allowing only one earned run over his first three starts this season, finally looked human. He surrendered four runs and six hits while walking one and striking out three in four frames. Meanwhile, Badenhop settled down after walking Teixeira following Jones' three-run blast. The righthander, who allowed just one hit thereafter, yielded three runs and three hits in five frames. Jorge Cantu opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first for the Marlins, who fell to 2-6 on their 10-game road swing against NL East Division opponents. |
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