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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
HOUSTON (AP) – Kevin Millwood ignored the pain long enough to
get his first victory of the season.
|  | | Atlanta's Chipper Jones hits a three-run homer in the eighth inning, his third in two days against Houston. |
Millwood pitched 6 1/3 innings before leaving the game with a
sore left hip and Chipper Jones hit a three-run homer as the
Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros 11-3 Wednesday night.
"It's that sciatic nerve down in his back," manager Bobby Cox
said. "He's been battling that for a while. That one pitch before
the guy flew out he felt it."
Millwood (1-2), who had not won since Sept. 22, lost his last
two decisions last season and his first two decisions this season.
He allowed three runs.
"It bothered me in my last start but it got better between
starts," Millwood said. "I didn't feel it before the game but
after the game started, it started coming back every inning and was
getting worse and worse.
"I had hoped to make it through the seventh inning, but it
started really hurting and Bobby came and got me."
After Richard Hidalgo flied out for the first out in the
seventh, Cox and the Braves trainer went to the mound to talk to
Millwood, who then left the game. His status is day to day.
"If I know Kevin he'll start, he's not going to miss a start,"
Cox said.
An RBI single by Rafael Furcal, a run-scoring double by Brian
Jordan and a two-run homer by Andruw Jones gave the Braves a 4-0
lead in the third inning off Scott Elarton (3-2), who has lost all
four decisions in his career against the Braves.
Chipper Jones hit a three-run homer in the eighth off reliever
Mike Jackson, who gave up his first runs of the season in seven
innings this season.
"The guys took the approach `Hey, we're in last place, we've
got nothing to lose,' ": Chipper Jones said. "We relaxed, had fun
and competed. We'd gotten so bad with hitters in scoring position
that the tension got worse every game.
"All it took was a break out game to get us relaxed."
Millwood shut down the Astros through 3 2/3 innings until Moises
Alou doubled and Richard Hidalgo followed with his fifth homer.
Jeff Bagwell hit a solo home run in the sixth inning, cutting
Atlanta's lead to 4-3. The homer made Bagwell the first player in
club history to reach 3,000 career total bases. He now has 3,001.
B.J. Surhoff hit an RBI single in the seventh for Atlanta and
Andruw Jones had a sacrifice fly in the eighth. Wes Helms hit a
two-run homer in the ninth for the Braves off Billy Wagner, who
gave up his first two earned runs of the season in nine innings.
"It wasn't a good day for anybody," Astros manager Larry
Dierker said. "I guess if (Jay) Powell, Jackson and Wagner were
going to give up runs, I'd rather see it in a game where we're
already behind.
"Pitching is the obvious problem tonight but the other thing is
in this ball park you need to score more than three runs."
Elarton allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings.
The Braves took the series 2-1 and picked up their offense
against the Astros. Atlanta's 11 runs were the most by an Astros
opponent at Enron Field this season.
"We really started swinging the bats didn't we?" Cox said.
"We did great all three nights and they hit too and they were
really pitching well too."
Game notes
Chipper Jones is hitting .500 through six road games. ...
Millwood lost 13 of his final 20 decisions last year. ... Andruw
Jones has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games. ... Elarton
leads the Astros with seven home runs allowed this season. ... The
Braves had scored 11 runs in Millwood's previous four starts, or
2.8 runs per game. ... After the game, the Braves recalled LHP
Damian Moss and purchased the contract of RHP Matt Whiteside from
Triple-A Richmond and optioned RHP Marc Valdes to Richmond and
designated for assignment RHP Chris Seelbach.
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RECAPS
Minnesota 6
Boston 4
Anaheim 3
Cleveland 1
Baltimore 6
Detroit 4
Seattle 7
NY Yankees 5
Toronto 8
Texas 5
Tampa Bay 5
Kansas City 3
Chi. White Sox 2
Oakland 1
Atlanta 11
Houston 3
Milwaukee 7
NY Mets 2
St. Louis 5
Montreal 2
Colorado 6
Chicago Cubs 5
Arizona 10
Florida 7
Philadelphia 5
San Diego 3
Cincinnati 7
San Francisco 5
Los Angeles 6
Pittsburgh 5
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