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PHILADELPHIA(AP)
Casey Kotchman
lofted a short fly to center field in the third inning and angrily slammed his bat to the ground.
He took out his aggression on the Phillies the rest of the game.
Kotchman had three hits and three RBIs,
Kenshin Kawakami
pitched six effective innings and the
Atlanta Braves
rallied for a 4-2 victory over Philadelphia on Sunday.
Kotchman hit a two-out, two-run single off
Jack Taschner
(1-1) in the seventh inning to give the Braves a 3-2 lead. He also had an RBI double in the ninth.
''I'm just trying to make the most of the opportunities I get, said Kotchman, who went 3 for 5 to raise his average to .312.
Garret Anderson
had two hits for the Braves (15-16), who took two of three from the Phillies to move within one game of .500.
Rafael Soriano
worked the ninth for his third save in three opportunities.
Matt Stairs
got a rare start for Philadelphia and went 2 for 2 with a run-scoring double and a walk.
Ryan Howard
also had a pair of doubles and scored two runs.
The Phillies fell to 0-10 when scoring three runs or less.
''We definitely have to play better,'' manager
Charlie Manuel
said. ''We have to be more consistent. We haven't put it together like we want to.''
Kawakami (2-4) allowed two runs and five hits, struck out six and walked four. The 33-year-old rookie, a six-time All-Star
in Japan, picked up his first win in nearly a month.
''Kawakami pitched a gutsy game,'' Braves manager
Bobby Cox
said. ''He had great stuff and kept the left-handers off balance.''
Brett Myers
turned in a solid outing for Philadelphia, yielding one run and five hits despite hitting two batters. He was lifted for pinch-hitter
Greg Dobbs
in the bottom of the sixth despite throwing only 92 pitches.
''I felt a little better and had more control than in the past,'' Myers said. ''I felt stronger.''
Myers helped end
Chipper Jones
' 29-game hitting streak against the Phillies. Jones was 0-for-3 with a walk, marking the first time since April 5, 2007,
that he failed to register a hit against Philadelphia. Jones' streak was the longest by a Braves player against another team
since 1954.
Jones left in the seventh with a sore elbow and is listed as day to day.
''I couldn't throw across the infield,'' Jones said. ''I'll see how it feels (Monday). If I can play, I'll play.''
The Braves loaded the bases with no outs in the first but managed just one run on a sacrifice fly to center by Anderson.
Pedro Feliz
tied it with an RBI single in the second.
Notes: Philadelphia C
Carlos Ruiz
started after sitting out the previous two games with a strained right oblique. ... The game drew a sellout crowd of 45,343
and the weekend series attracted 135,994, a record for a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park. ... Philadelphia's
Shane Victorino
was 0 for 13 in the three-game series. ... Atlanta's
Jeff Francoeur
was hitless in five at-bats, snapping his season-high 10-game hitting streak.
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