Giles injured in first inning

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- 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 sustained 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,"

Atlanta 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 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

RBI, and Adam LaRoche, who had four doubles, which tied a major

league record.

LaRoche had a chance to break 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."

Antonio Alfonseca (5-0) pitched 1 2-3 innings in relief of

starter Russ Ortiz, who lasted only 1 1-3 innings, walking seven

and giving up four runs in his shortest outing since May 9, 2000,

when he also lasted 1 1-3 innings vs. 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."

Brewers starter Matt Kinney (1-3) lasted just two innings,

giving up five runs in the first inning in the loss as Milwaukee

fell back to .500 at 18-18.

"It just didn't work out tonight," Kinney said. "I made some

bad pitches and every time I did that, they hit. The first inning

was, well, kind of horrible."

Brewers manager Ned Yost said once the Braves got the lead, it

was tough for his team to catch up.

"That wasn't one of our better pitching performances of the

year," he said. "What we really needed to happen was the bullpen

to come in and shut them down and that's a huge task to ask. We

could just never stop the bleeding."

The Braves scored first with five runs in the first inning.

Giles scored on a wild pitch from Kinney, and LaRoche came home on

a single by Estrada. Jones capped the inning with a three-run

homer, his sixth of the season.

The Brewers got two runs back in the bottom of the first on the

play that injured Giles.

Giles was racing back and Jones running in for Wes Helms' short

fly. When they collided, the ball bounced away. Helms was credited

with a double that drove in Craig Counsell and Geoff Jenkins. Giles

was replaced by Nick Green, who made his major league debut.

The Brewers scored two more runs in the second inning to cut the

lead to 5-4. Jenkins hit a bases-loaded single, and the second run

scored on a bases-loaded walk to Lyle Overbay.

Estrada's second homer of the year in the third inning, and his

RBI single in the fourth gave the Braves a 7-4 lead. Green's first

major league hit, a single in the fifth, increased the Braves' lead

to 8-4. On the play, Wilson Betemit scored his first major league

run.

The Brewers cut the lead to 8-6 in the seventh on Overbay's RBI

double and an RBI single by Helms. Overbay's double extended his

hitting streak to 16 games, tying the Brewers' NL club record.

LaRoche's RBI double and Estrada's two-run double in the eighth

made it 11-6.