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Wednesday, Apr. 19 7:40pm ET
Braves' offense keeps Rocker in 'pen | |||||
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GAME LOG
ATLANTA (AP) -- The Atlanta Braves finally broke out on offense, denying John Rocker a chance to pick up his first save. Javy Lopez homered and equaled his career high with four RBI to back seven strong innings by Tom Glavine, leading the Braves to a 10-1 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night. Andres Galarraga also drove in two runs for Atlanta, which had Rocker begin warming up in the top of the eighth with a 4-1 lead. He sat down after his teammates scored six runs in the bottom half. The Braves reached double figures for the first time this season after managing just 24 runs in their previous seven games. The outburst coincided with the return of Brian Jordan, who was back in the cleanup spot after spending 15 days on the disabled list with a muscle strain in his rib cage. "Sooner or later, we were going to score some runs," Glavine said. "Our offense is too good not to score some runs." Glavine (3-0) surrendered just four hits but had to overcome five walks, two of which were intentional. The Phillies stranded eight runners against the two-time Cy Young winner, who threw 34 pitches in the first inning and 116 overall. Glavine got off to a terrible start last season, going 1-3 with a 5.19 ERA in the opening month and struggling through his worst season in nine years. But April has traditionally been one of his best months, with a career ERA below 3.00. "Last year was just one of those years," he said. "Some people wanted to talk about age or say I was in decline, but I never bought into it. ... I felt good in spring training and this is just a continuation of that." Rocker's save possibility ended with Galarraga's second RBI single of the game, then Lopez sent his third homer of the season deep into the left-field stands against reliever Steve Schrenk, who failed to get an out before he was yanked. The Braves added two more runs before Trever Miller finally got the first out of the inning, a diving catch by Doug Glanville at the warning track in right-center. Lopez, who broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run single in the sixth, had four RBI for the 10th time in his career. The last came on June 20, 1999, at Arizona. "I was struggling, too," he said. "I would come up with runners on base and not be able to get a hit. I really wanted to turn that around." Andruw Jones gave the Braves a 4-1 lead in the seventh with a solo homer to right-center against Phillies starter Randy Wolf (1-1). Rocker made his return to baseball on Tuesday, pitching a scoreless ninth after receiving a standing ovation from the Turner Field crowd on his sprint to the mound. He refused to talk with the media before and after the game, a 4-3, 12-inning victory for the Braves. After Wednesday's game, Rocker was standing at his locker as reporters entered the clubhouse. "Anyone want an interview? Nope? Missed your chance," he said facetiously, hurrying off to the showers. The score was 1-1 in the sixth when Wolf hit consecutive batters, Jordan and Galarraga, to load the bases with one out. Lopez followed with his two-run single to center. "Anytime you play the Braves, you have a very small margin of error," Wolf said. "When you're going up against a pitcher like Glavine, you're not going to score many runs." Galarraga, bumped from fourth to fifth to make room for Jordan in the lineup, went 3-for-3, including an RBI single in the fourth that erased Philadelphia's 1-0 lead. Wolf pitched seven innings, which he also did in his first two starts of the season. He allowed seven hits and four runs, walked two and struck out two. Rico Brogna's bases-loaded groundout gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the first. But Glavine escaped a big inning by striking out Mickey Morandini with the bases loaded. Game notesJordan and Philadelphia's Ron Gant both made spectacular catches. In the fourth, Jordan made a belly-flopping grab near the foul line in right on a sinking liner by Doug Glanville. An inning later, when Quilvio Veras sent a drive to the warning track in left, Gant initially turned the wrong way but recovered to make a twisting, back-handed catch before slamming into the wall. ... Home plate umpire Randy Marsh was struck in the left jaw by an errant pitch in the second inning but remained in the game. ... The crowd of 29,992 was nearly 5,000 less than the previous night for Rocker's return. ... Atlanta pitcher Greg Maddux was not at the ballpark Wednesday after leaving early the previous night, feeling ill. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Philadelphia Clubhouse Atlanta Clubhouse RECAPS Chi. White Sox 5 Seattle 2
Atlanta 10
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