Braves Win but Lose Giles

The Atlanta Braves’ win came with a steep price.

All-Star second baseman Marcus Giles broke his collarbone in a collision with center field Andruw Jones while chasing a popup in the first inning of the Braves’ 11-6 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night.

The Braves said Giles also suffered a mild concussion and a bruised right hand and will be sidelined six to eight weeks.

“It was a costly victory because Giles was an All-Star for us last year and probably would have been one for us this year,” Manager Bobby Cox said. “It is just one of those things. He plays hard. He was going after the ball and trying to make a play.”

Giles, who was in the clubhouse after the game with his right arm in a sling, said he did not hear Jones call for the ball.

“I keep going after the ball until I hear someone call for it and I never heard anything,” he said. “I felt something in my shoulder when I hit the ground. I wanted to keep playing, but I couldn’t lift my arm over my head. It was just a freak play.”

Giles hopes to be back in less than six weeks.

“I can’t do much except wait for the bone to grow back in,” he said.

The Braves were able to overcome Giles’ injury through the hitting of Johnny Estrada, who had a career-high five hits and five runs batted in, and Adam LaRoche, who had four doubles, which tied a major league record.

LaRoche, son of former Angel pitcher Dave LaRoche, had a chance to set the record in the ninth inning, but flied out to deep center field.

“I was just hoping that [center fielder Scott Podsednik] would slip and do something for me,” he said. “It was pretty cool to tie a record.”

Giles was the last player to hit four doubles in a game, on July 27, 2003.

Antonio Alfonseca (5-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings in relief of starter Russ Ortiz, who lasted only 1 1/3 innings. Ortiz walked seven and gave up four runs in his shortest outing since May 9, 2000, when he also lasted 1 1/3 innings against Cincinnati.

“This was a good win for me and for our team,” Alfonseca said. “We are doing much better than we were a few days ago.”

Milwaukee’s Matt Kinney (1-3) lasted only two innings, giving up five runs in the first inning, as the Brewers fell back to .500 at 18-18.

“I made some bad pitches and every time I did that, they hit,” Kinney said. “The first inning was, well, kind of horrible.”

In the first inning, Giles scored on a wild pitch by Kinney, and LaRoche scored on a single by Estrada. Jones capped the inning with a three-run home run, his sixth.

The Brewers got two runs back in the bottom of the first inning on a double by Wes Helms that drove in Craig Counsell and Geoff Jenkins.

On the play, Giles was racing back and Jones was coming in for Helms’ short fly. When they collided, the ball bounced away and Helms was credited with a double.