Finally, Braves Beat Yankees

Denny Neagle and Ryan Klesko will never be able to rewrite what happened to Atlanta last October. Rather, they made sure the Braves broke through against the New York Yankees this season.

Klesko, benched for most of last year’s World Series, hit a two-run homer Tuesday night that lifted Neagle and the Braves over New York, 3-1.

Neagle (12-1) won his fifth consecutive decision and Atlanta stopped its five-game losing streak to the Yankees. The Braves dropped the final four games to New York to lose the World Series, and lost, 1-0, in 10 innings Monday.

“Any time a team has your number like that, it’s satisfying to beat them,” Neagle said. “Obviously, we’ve had some tough games against them.”

Atlanta’s previous three losses to the Yankees had each been by one run.

“It was a little extra special to finally get a win against those guys,” Klesko said.

Atlanta improved to 3-5 in interleague play. The Yankees are 4-4 going into today’s series wrap-up, a matchup of Greg Maddux and Dwight Gooden.

“We’re evenly matched ballclubs,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “We both thrive on our pitching. This is old-fashioned baseball and makes for tense games.”

Neagle gave up one run and six hits in 7 2/3 innings. Mark Wohlers took over for his 18th save.

Brave second baseman Mark Lemke saved Wohlers, making a diving stop on Charlie Hayes’ sharp grounder up the middle for the final out in the eighth inning, stranding a runner at second and preserving a 2-1 lead. Atlanta scored in the ninth on doubles by Andruw Jones and Javy Lopez off Jim Mecir.

Ramiro Mendoza (3-3) blanked the Braves on five hits for five innings. But Fred McGriff singled with one out in the sixth, and Klesko then reached out to pull an 0-and-2 pitch over the right-field wall for a 2-1 lead.

Klesko’s first home run since June 17 was his 13th of the season.