Chipper Drives In Five, Braves Come From Behind To Win Slugfest With Rockies

Ho-hum, another comeback win.

The Braves once again fell behind early, but five RBI by Chipper Jones sparked Atlanta's come-from-behind 13-9 victory over the Rockies. This was Atlanta's fourth straight comeback win.

Mike Minor's first look at a Rockies lineup was not a pleasant one. A single and a pair of walks loaded the bases in the first inning, then with two outs and Minor a strike away from escaping trouble, Michael Cuddyer belted his sixth career grand slam home run. A two-run double by Carlos Gonzalez in the second inning gave the 49-year-old Jamie Moyer a cushy 6-0 lead.

The Braves managed to get one back in the third when Gonzalez misjudged a fly ball off the bat of Freddie Freeman, allowing Michael Bourn to score. Minor finally put up a zero in the third inning thanks to some fine defense from Bourn, throwing out Cuddyer attempting a double.

Meanwhile, Atlanta's offense continued to chip away. In the fifth, Minor led off the inning with a single and scored on a double by Chipper Jones. Brian McCann chased Chipper home with a two-out single to cut the Rockies lead to three, but the Rockies got those two runs back in the bottom of the inning on Wilin Rosario's third home run of the season for an 8-3 lead.

But as any major-leaguer will say, no lead is safe at Coors Field. Matt Diaz and Jason Heyward smacked back-to-back home runs leading off the sixth and Tyler Pastornicky chased Moyer with an opposite-field single. Esmil Rogers relieved Moyer and promptly walked pinch-hitter Juan Francisco on four straight, then allowed a single to Michael Bourn to load the bases with no outs for Chipper Jones, who continued his good work by dropping a two-run single into center field. An RBI groundout from Freddie Freeman tied the game at eight.

Moyer allowed six runs on 10 hits in five innings. Minor allowed eight runs on 10 hits in five innings, striking out four and walking four.

Atlanta's offense continued to punish Rogers in the seventh. Diaz singled leading off and Heyward walked, but only after absolutely destroying a baseball, launching it into the upper deck only to have it ruled foul. Following an errant pickoff throw that advanced the runners, pinch-hitter Martin Prado was drilled with a pitch to load the bases. That was the end of the game for Rogers, but his replacement Rex Brothers walked Michael Bourn to force in the go-ahead run. Chipper Jones drove in two more with a single to center and Freddie Freeman capped the inning with a sacrifice fly.

Chad Durbin served up Wilin Rosario's second home run of the game in the seventh, but Atlanta tacked on an insurance run in the ninth when outfielder Tyler Colvin dropped a fly ball with Prado on base. Livan Hernandez shut down the Rockies the final 1.2 innings for his first career save.

Cristhian Martinez earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief.