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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ATLANTA (AP) – Rick Ankiel found the plate, and Atlanta batters
found the bleachers.
|  | | St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Rick Ankiel has well-documented control problems, but Saturday giving up homers was his vice. |
Bernard Gilkey and Rafael Furcal homered off Ankiel, who
couldn't hold a four-run lead as the Braves rallied past the St.
Louis Cardinals 6-5 Saturday night.
Ankiel was wearing sunglasses and refused to speak with
reporters as he left Turner Field. He walked quickly out of the
clubhouse before it was opened to the media.
"You can talk patience all you want to -- he wants to contribute
to this ballclub's success," pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "He
probably felt he had let his teammates down. I'm sure that's
basically why he had an attitude."
Pinch-hitter B.J. Surhoff drove in the go-ahead run with a
seventh-inning single off Steve Kline.
Atlanta, 14th among the 16 NL teams in batting average, had just
two hits in its previous 20 at-bats with runners in scoring
position.
Mike Remlinger (1-0) won despite wasting a sixth-inning lead,
and John Rocker got four outs for his seventh save in nine chances.
Mike Timlin (1-1) was the loser.
The Braves began the night 13-17, four games under. 500 for the
first time since May 30, 1992.
Ankiel had 17 walks in 17 1/3 innings coming in following
record-setting wildness in last year's playoffs. He allowed four
runs, five hits and three walks in 3 2-3 innings, and struck out
six, his ERA rising from 6.23 to 6.86.
"He was kind of wild, but then he'd bury you with his
fastball," Braves cleanup hitter Brian Jordan said. "He was
effectively wild."
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa was irritated by persistent
questions about Ankiel.
"A lot of other stuff happened in that game," La Russa said.
"I know Ankiel -- he's an important pitcher -- but a lot of other
stuff happened in that game. One thing you don't do is look ahead
after the game's played. You think about the one you've just
played."
Duncan indicated he was pleased with Ankiel's "sense of
rhythm" and added the 21-year-old left-hander will keep his turn
in the rotation. Ankiel was pitching for the first time in nine
days.
"When you saw Rick Ankiel last year, he was a very aggressive
pitcher," Duncan said. "Right now, he's not as aggressive and
that's probably why you see more home runs. I think it's going to
be that way until he learns to pitch aggressively. That's what
we're working on."
Odalis Perez, hit hard for the third straight start, gave up
four runs in the first on RBI singles by Albert Pujols and Craig
Paquette and J.D. Drew's two-run double.
Furcal homered to left-center in the bottom half and Gilkey
homered to left-center in the fourth, making it 4-3. Two outs
later, Furcal singled to chase Ankiel, and Andruw Jones greeted
Jason Karnuth with an RBI double.
"We didn't get off to a good start, but we battled back,"
Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. "We pounded the ball tonight.
Without the home runs, we wouldn't be very happy right now."
Remlinger threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the sixth, but
Chipper Jones retied the score at 5 in the bottom half when he
homered off Timlin, Jones' ninth homer of the season and sixth in
11 games.
Wes Helms doubled off Timlin leading off the seventh and scored
on Surhoff's two-out single. Surhoff later was thrown out at the
plate by second baseman Fernando Vina trying to score on Furcal's
single to short right field.
Rocker entered with runners on first and third with two outs in
the eighth and struck out pinch-hitter Ray Lankford.
Game notes
Chipper Jones was walked in his first three at-bats for the
first time since last Sept. 8 against Montreal. ... Gilkey's homer
was his first since last July 4 -- his first game with Boston.
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RECAPS
NY Yankees 5
Baltimore 2
Boston 7
Oakland 1
Seattle 7
Toronto 5
Cleveland 9
Tampa Bay 4
Kansas City 12
Minnesota 10
Texas 2
Chi. White Sox 0
Detroit 11
Anaheim 2
NY Mets 8
Arizona 1
San Diego 5
Cincinnati 2
Chicago Cubs 20
Los Angeles 1
Atlanta 6
St. Louis 5
Milwaukee 8
Florida 2
Houston 4
Montreal 3
Philadelphia 4
San Francisco 2
Pittsburgh 11
Colorado 3
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