Braves Get Road Win in Texas

June 18, 2008 - 11:10 PM

Chipper Jones didn't have a hit Tuesday night in Texas, where the Braves lost to the Rangers 7-5.  That brought Chipper's Major League leading batting average down to .400.  Jones is only the 10th player since 1980 to be hitting .400 this late in the season....

That average jumped back up to .402 after his first at-bat Wednesday night.  The Braves captain smacked his 16th home run of the season with two-out in the first inning.  Chipper went 2 for 5, which puts is batting average back at .400.

Kelly Johnson's third inning single got Yunel Escobar home for a 2-0 Braves lead.

JoJo Reyes did a great job keeping Josh Hamilton and the American League's top-hitting club off-stride.  He did give up a third-inning run on a hit-batsman a wild pitch and a single, but Reyes gave up just 3 hits in the first 5 innings.

JoJo should have been out of a two-out-runner-at-third jam in the 6th, but Omar Infante bobbled a Brandon Boggs grounder which allowed the tying run to score.

Infante made up for that error in the top of the 9th.  His single to right got Jeff Francoeur home with the go-ahead run.  Omar scored an insurance run when Gregor Blanco tripled into the right-centerfield alley.

The Braves scored one more run on a groundout, then Mike Gonzalez, who's been out for more than a year after having Tommy John ebow surgery, pitched a perfect 9th inning to nail down the Braves 5-2 win in Texas, where they'll finish up the series Thursday afternoon.