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  Tuesday, May 16 7:40pm ET
Jordan is pretty in Braves' ugly victory
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

ATLANTA (AP) -- Twenty-nine hits. Ten pitchers. Three errors. One starter coming out of the bullpen to get the save. And, finally, nothing left to say.

"I can't begin to tell you about that ballgame," Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox said Tuesday night after his team survived for a 9-7 victory over the San Francisco Giants. "It was ugly."

Brian Jordan
Brian Jordan celebrates the second two-homer game of his career.

So ugly that Brian Jordan homered twice in a game for the second time in a week and was overshadowed by a near-debacle in the ninth inning, when John Rocker came in with a 9-5 lead but couldn't get the final out.

The erratic left-hander was pulled after giving up two hits and walking in a run. Kevin McGlinchy followed with another bases-loaded walk, blowing a chance to earn his first major league save.

Terry Mulholland, normally the Braves' fourth starter, was used in relief for the first time this season and retired Armando Rios on a grounder, ending the 3-hour, 42-minute opus. Rocker was charged with both runs, raising his ERA to 5.68.

"You can't get hitters out by walking them," Cox said. "You've got to throw strikes."

Rocker has allowed 13 hits and 16 walks in 12 2/3 innings since serving a two-week suspension for insensitive comments.

"It was one of those days for him," Rios said. "He was all over the place."

Mulholland, who had started four days earlier, was dispatched to the bullpen just in case. As it turned out, he was needed on a night when Atlanta used seven pitchers and gave up 14 hits.

The Braves piled up 15 hits against three pitchers. Chipper Jones homer and drove in two runs, while Andres Galarraga had three RBI.

"Honestly, I didn't think there would be a big need for me tonight," Mulholland said. "That just goes to prove that you never know."

Jordan nearly had his third homer in the eighth inning, but a 380-foot drive was caught at the base of the wall for a sacrifice fly and his third RBI of the game.

"I definitely went up there thinking about three," Jordan said. "I knew I got underneath it a little bit. Earlier in the game, it might have gone out. But later in the night, the air seems to be heavier. It was close."

Tom Glavine (6-1) picked up the win despite lasting only 5 1/3 innings in his shortest start this season. He allowed nine hits and five runs.

"You've got to win ugly once in a while," said Glavine, who had gone at least six innings in his first eight starts. "Tonight was certainly ugly."

Jordan, bothered much of the season by muscle strains in his rib cage, hit solo shots in the second and fifth innings, giving him six homers for the season after a slow start. He also hit two homers in an 8-7 victory Friday at Philadelphia to begin Atlanta's four-game winning streak.

"I'm confident up there," Jordan said. "I feel I can hit it out every time I go up."

The Giants won't have Barry Bonds for the three-game series at Turner Field. He returned to San Francisco with an ailing back after being injured at Colorado over the weekend.

Even without their most feared hitter, the Giants rallied from a 6-2 deficit in the sixth when Rich Aurilia, Armando Rios and Doug Mirabelli had consecutive RBI singles, pushing the potential tying run to third with only one out.

But Mike Remlinger, who replaced Glavine after Aurilia's hit, struck out pinch-hitter Russ Davis. Calvin Murray walked to load the bases before Remlinger retired J.T. Snow on a weak popup to Jones just behind third base.

In the bottom half, Jones sent a 3-0 pitch over the 400-foot sign in center for his ninth homer, restoring the Braves to a two-run lead.

San Francisco, which lost its fourth straight, went ahead in the first on Jeff Kent's two-out, run-scoring single. Jordan tied it up with his first homer against Russ Ortiz (2-5) and the Braves went ahead on Galarraga's two-run single in the third.

The Giants pulled to 3-2 when Kent scored while the Braves were turning a double play in the fourth, but rookie Rafael Furcal produced a run with pure speed in the bottom of the fourth.

First, the 19-year-old reached first by beating out an infield hit, moving to second when first baseman Snow threw the ball away. Furcal moved to third on a Glavine's sacrifice, then got caught in a rundown on a sharp rounder to shortstop. But Mirabelli, the catcher, threw the ball away again while Furcal scrambled back toward third.

Galarraga brought home another run in the eighth with a double against reliever Mark Gardner, went to third on the throw home and scored on Jordan's long fly to left.

Ortiz lasted five innings, surrendering 10 hits and five earned runs for his third straight loss.

Game notes
The Braves are 19-5 with Jordan in the lineup, 7-7 when he sits out. ... Jordan has eight two-homer games in his career. ... Davis is 0-for-9 at pinch-hitter. ... Mirabelli had the first stolen base of his career. ... Mueller extended his hitting streak to 12 games before leaving with a sore knee. X-rays were negative. ... Mulholland has five saves in his career.
 


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