Jones homers, drives in 4 to lead Braves over D'Backs

[June 01, 2009]  PHOENIX (AP) -- Chipper Jones homered and drove in four runs, Garrett Anderson hit his first home run with the Braves, and Atlanta routed the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-3 on Sunday.

Kris Medlen (1-2) was dominant for Atlanta, allowing one run over six innings for his first career win. Medlen struck out eight and retired 14 of the first 16 batters he faced.

Reed Johnson and Yunel Escobar each had three doubles for the Braves, who won for the second time on their seven-game road trip.

The Braves wasted little time against Diamondbacks starter Max Scherzer (2-4), scoring two runs on the game's first seven pitches.

Johnson doubled down the left-field line on the second and Escobar doubled to the left-field wall on the first pitch he saw for a 1-0 lead. Jones followed with a single to center, scoring Escobar to make it 2-0.

Escobar doubled again leading off the third, and Jones homered into the left-field stands to extend Atlanta's lead to 4-0 in the fourth. Jones added an RBI single in the fourth, and Anderson hit a three-run homer to put the Braves ahead 8-0.

Anderson's home run was his first since Sept. 20 against Texas as a member of the Los Angeles Angels.

Scherzer surrendered a career-high eight runs on 10 hits in a career-worst 3 2-3 innings with three walks, four strikeouts and a hit batter.

Arizona ended Medlen's shutout bid in the sixth when Chris Snyder doubled down the left-field line and scored on Geradro Parra's double into the left-field corner. Chris Young added an RBI single in the seventh off Jeff Bennett and Mark Reynolds had a run-scoring single to right against Manny Acosta in the eighth.

Notes: The Braves matched a season high with seven doubles. ... Scherzer's ERA climbed by a run and a half to 4.47 from 3.38. ... Johnson finished the four-game series 7 for 20 with four doubles, five runs scored and three RBIs. ... Braves 1B Casey Kotchman left the game in the fourth after he was hit in the right shin four pitches after Anderson's home run. Scherzer was also pulled from the game after the play. X-rays on Kotchman's shin were negative and he's listed as day-to-day. ... Jones has six career home runs at Bank One Ballpark/Chase Field. ... The Diamondbacks, vying for their first series victory at home this season, settled for a four-game split with Atlanta.

[Associated Press]

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