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ATLANTA (AP) -A threat to hit 400?
Chipper Jones
is already there.
The
Atlanta Braves
slugger cracked his 400th career home run Thursday night and finished with four hits in a 7-5 victory over the
Florida Marlins
, raising his major league-leading batting average to .418.
Jones came out of the dugout for what he said was only the second curtain call of his career as fans cheered his milestone
homer in the sixth inning. He became the third switch-hitter to reach 400 home runs, following Hall of Famers
Mickey Mantle
(536) and
Eddie Murray
(504).
''To be lumped in with those guys is what I'm shooting for,'' Jones said. ''This is a step closer but still a long, long way
from those guys. They set the bar really high.''
Brian McCann
gave the Braves a 6-5 lead in the fifth with a two-run shot.
Yunel Escobar
also connected.
The three homers came off
Ricky Nolasco
(5-4), who gave up 12 hits and seven runs in 5 2-3 innings, ending his bid for his fifth straight win.
The 36-year-old Jones lifted his batting average from .409 to .418 by going 4-for-5 with singles in the first, third and eighth.
He hit his 14th homer of the season about 10 rows deep into the right-field seats with two outs in the sixth.
''He never came up in a situation where we could pitch around him,'' said Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez, a former Braves
coach. ''He's sure not missing. He's locked in. I've never seen him this hot for this long.''
Jones paused to admire his homer before beginning his jog around the bases.
''I'm glad it wasn't a loss so I can enjoy it,'' he said. ''In no way do I want to show anybody up. ... It was a huge monkey
off my back.''
As the video board replayed the shot, fans called Jones out of the dugout.
''That was my second curtain call here in Atlanta,'' he said, before reciting details of a three-run homer off
New York Mets
pitcher
Al Leiter
in 1999.
Only two curtain calls? Jones said that's fine with him.
''This is a town that's laid back and it fits my personality,'' he said.
Braves manager
Bobby Cox
said he has seen ''every single one'' of Jones' homers.
''He's quite the player,'' Cox said. ''He's one great player, four hits tonight and one was a homer, a stolen base and picked
it at third again. He's just having a fabulous season. Gets better with age.''
The focus now will shift back to Jones' batting average.
The last time a major leaguer was hitting .418 or better through games of June 5 was in 1994, when Paul O'Neill of the
New York Yankees
had a .430 average on that date, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The last major leaguer to hit .400 for a season was Boston's
Ted Williams
, who batted .406 in 1941.
Nolasco noted he is only the latest to give up a homer to Jones.
''He makes you pay when you go over the middle of the plate,'' Nolasco said. ''I made a mistake and he made me pay.
''He's been doing it for years, and he's not going to stop anytime soon.''
Jair Jurrjens
(6-3) gave up a season-high 11 hits and five runs in six innings but won as the Braves rallied from a 5-3 deficit. Jurrjens
escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth when Nolasco hit into a double play.
Rafael Soriano
pitched the ninth for his third save, one night after Atlanta's
Manny Acosta
gave up four runs in the ninth inning to blow a two-run lead. Soriano pitched around
Mike Jacobs
' one-out double.
Florida's
Hanley Ramirez
led off the first inning with his third homer in two games.
The Braves had three hits in the first, including
Mark Teixeira
's run-scoring single, and took a 3-1 lead with two runs in the third. Escobar led off with a homer to left.
Kelly Johnson
hit a single to right and scored on
Jeff Francoeur
's grounder.
The Marlins took a 5-3 lead with four runs in the fourth.
Jacque Jones
' single drove in
Dan Uggla
for Jones' first RBI with Florida.
Nolasco fooled the Braves by faking a bunt and then slapping a run-scoring single to right.
Jacque Jones
scored on McCann's throwing error on Ramirez's stolen base, and
Jorge Cantu
drove in Ramirez with a single - the Marlins' sixth hit of the inning.
Josh Anderson
hit his first major league triple to lead off Atlanta's fourth and scored when Escobar hit into a double play.
Notes:
Chipper Jones
got his first stolen base of the season in the eighth. ... Atlanta LF
Greg Norton
was a late scratch with a twisted left knee. He is day to day. Anderson was the fill-in starter. ... Phil Falco joined the
Braves as the team's new strength and conditioning coach, replacing Frank Fultz. Falco had been a minor league roving strength
and conditioning coordinator. ... The homer by Ramirez was his fourth leading off a game this season and the 19th of his career.
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