Jones Powers Braves Over Rockies

Mike Hampton pitched brilliantly against his former team, then Andruw Jones bailed out the Atlanta Braves’ bullpen.

Jones hit a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Braves won for the 17th time in 20 games, beating the Colorado Rockies, 3-2, Tuesday night.

“I hit it where I needed to hit it,” said Jones, who leads the National League with 33 runs batted in.

Hampton pitched seven shutout innings against his former team but wasn’t involved in the decision after Roberto Hernandez gave up two runs in the top of the eighth, erasing Atlanta’s 1-0 lead.

Jones came through in the bottom half of the inning against Todd Jones (0-1). With two out, the reliever walked Chipper Jones. Andruw Jones then hit a 1-and-1 pitch over the center-field wall for his ninth homer.

Hernandez (3-0) picked up the win despite squandering Hampton’s lead.

“That guy right there,” Hernandez said, looking across the clubhouse toward Hampton, “he pitched a solid game. He’s the one. He’s the one.”

Despite their strong play after a 4-8 start, the first-place Braves drew a crowd of only 18,108 -- the smallest in Turner Field’s seven-year history.

John Smoltz pitched a scoreless ninth for his major league-leading 13th save in 14 chances. He ended the game by getting Todd Helton to hit into a double play.

San Francisco 4, Florida 2 -- Benito Santiago’s two-run home run ended a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning at Miami, and Barry Bonds hit his 10th homer for the Giants.

Joe Nathan (3-0) pitched two innings to get the victory. He has pitched 22 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings and hasn’t given up a run this season.

San Francisco starter Jason Schmidt struck out eight and gave up three hits in six innings.

Houston 10, Pittsburgh 9 -- Jeff Bagwell’s run-scoring single capped Houston’s six-run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Lance Berkman hit a solo home run and Morgan Ensberg had a three-run pinch-hit homer for the Astros.

Milwaukee 9, Chicago 6 -- Eddie Perez had five runs batted in and John Vander Wal singled in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning to lift the Brewers in a game delayed 15 minutes when the Wrigley Field lights dimmed in the bottom of the ninth.

Perez’s three-run homer in the eighth tied the score, 6-6.

Corey Patterson hit a three-run homer and had four runs batted in for the Cubs, putting Mark Prior in position to become the NL’s first five-game winner. But relievers gave up a three-run lead in the eighth, then blew the game in the ninth.

Cincinnati 6, St. Louis 5 -- Barry Larkin returned from the disabled list and delivered a pinch-hit two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Cardinals had a seven-game winning streak before arriving in Cincinnati, where they have lost the first two games of the series on ninth-inning homers.

Larkin had been on the disabled list since April 14 because of a strained left calf.

Montreal 4, San Diego 2 -- Wil Cordero hit a three-run homer and Livan Hernandez pitched into the eighth inning to lead the Expos, who drew a crowd of only 5,841 after returning from a 3-3 trip.

Hernandez (3-1), who retired the first 10 batters he faced, won his second consecutive start to end Montreal’s three-game losing streak.

Arizona 6, Philadelphia 5 -- Danny Bautista’s sacrifice fly scored Steve Finley in the ninth and the Diamondbacks overcame Jim Thome’s two home runs at Phoenix.

Arizona’s Craig Counsell hit a homer in the fifth, then left after dislocating his right thumb sliding into second base in the sixth.

Thome hit a three-run blast to right field in the third and a 422-foot solo drive to right-center field in the fifth.