Chipper Jones Drives In 5 As Braves Beat Arizona 14-0

PHOENIX (AP) _ Chipper Jones and the Atlanta Braves finally enjoyed an easy afternoon. <br/><br/>Jones drove in five runs, Tim Hudson allowed three hits in seven innings and the Atlanta Braves routed Arizona

Sunday, July 29th 2007, 7:55 pm

By: News On 6

PHOENIX (AP) _ Chipper Jones and the Atlanta Braves finally enjoyed an easy afternoon.

Jones drove in five runs, Tim Hudson allowed three hits in seven innings and the Atlanta Braves routed Arizona 14-0 Sunday to end the Diamondbacks' eight-game winning streak.

Andruw Jones and Scott Thorman also homered for the Braves, who pounded out 19 hits and snapped a four-game losing streak. Jeff Francoeur went 3-for-5 and scored two runs.

``This was much needed to say the least,'' Chipper Jones said. ``It puts a nice tidy bow on a bad couple of days.''

Atlanta matched a season high for runs and handed Arizona its worst loss of the season.

Hudson (11-5) struck out five and walked one to win his fifth straight decision. The right-hander is 4-1 with a 1.61 ERA in six career starts against the Diamondbacks.

``I've always enjoyed pitching in domes or covered stadiums,'' Hudson said. ``I have no idea why. It's comfortable. It's nice and cool. You don't have to worry about the heat or the wind blowing or things like that.''

The Braves had rallied from seven- and three-run deficits the past two games only to lose in extra innings. But against Livan Hernandez, Atlanta removed all suspense in the first two innings. Hernandez dropped to 3-15 in his career against the Braves.

Willie Harris led off the game with a walk and Edgar Renteria doubled to right. Chipper Jones lifted a sacrifice fly to left and Andruw Jones followed with a towering home run into the left-field stands to give Atlanta a 3-0 lead.

The Braves added three more in the second. They loaded the bases before Chipper Jones lined a hard bouncer off Conor Jackson's shoulder at first for a three-run double and a 6-0 Braves lead.

``We're aware of our success against Livan,'' Chipper Jones said. ``I don't know if I've faced a guy more. Familiarity is a key. We know what to expect, we feel good about stuff and good things happen.''

Atlanta added single runs off Hernandez in the third and fourth on an RBI single by Julio Franco and a Chipper Jones sacrifice fly.

``They came out swinging,'' said Arizona manager Bob Melvin, whose Diamondbacks remained percentage points behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. ``The good news is it only counts as one.''

Hernandez (6-7) allowed eight runs and eight hits in four innings with three walks and no strikeouts. The four-inning stint matched a season low, set twice previously, and it was the first time Hernandez had failed strike out a batter since June 20, 2006, at Boston as a member of the Washington Nationals.

``It was a really tough day,'' Hernandez said. ``It's a day where you go outside and whatever you try, it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. Whatever you throw they're going to hit _ blooper, base hit, broken bat, whatever. You can do nothing with that. Baseball is like that.''

Atlanta added two more runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, including Thorman's pinch-hit homer over the pool area in right-center leading off the seventh.

``This was a good way to end this road trip with the day off tomorrow,'' Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. ``We've hit the ball good on this trip. We just had one bad pitched game.''

Notes: Andruw Jones reached the 20-home run mark for the 10th straight season. ... Hernandez has lost four of his last five decisions and has won just once since May 27 against Houston. ... Before the game, the Braves recalled RHP Jose Ascanio from Double-A Mississippi and designated LHP Wilfredo Ledezma for assignment, two days after Ledezma surrendered Eric Byrnes' eleventh-inning, game-winning homer Friday night. Ledezma, acquired from Detroit on June 20, was 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA in 12 appearances for Atlanta. Ascanio pitched a scoreless eighth against Arizona.