Jones’, Braves’ ills cured with solid effort in beating St. Louis, Maroth.

Published Friday, July 20, 2007

ATLANTA (AP) - Andruw Jones’ nightmarish season could finally be turning around.

Jones homered and drove in three runs to back seven strong innings by Tim Hudson and the Atlanta Braves ended a three-game skid with a 10-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals last night.

"I think June and July are the months I feel good," Jones said. "I play better. Not that I feel good physically. I’ve got a lot of injuries I wish I didn’t have right now."

Matt Diaz, whose solo homer in the second made it 3-0, finished 3 for 4 with three RBI. The Braves have won 13 of 20 despite a three-game sweep by Cincinnati this week.

Though his average rose four points after going 2 for 3, Jones still is hitting only .220 - an unacceptable average for a 30-year-old, five-time All-Star who had 92 homers and 257 RBI from 2005-06.

"I’m trying to put the first half behind me," Jones said. "We had a couple of rough starts the last three games. We made too many mistakes as a team and we got swept by the Cincinnati Reds. Today was a tremendous game all around for everybody."

St. Louis, which scored its only run on David Eckstein’s sacrifice fly in the sixth, has lost four of seven since the All-Star break.

Hudson (10-5) beat the Cardinals for the third time in his career, but this start marked the first time he was dominant.

The right-hander, who struck out three and gave up one run and five hits, entered with a 4.85 ERA in a span of 26 innings against St. Louis. Through his first five innings, Hudson allowed just one batter, Eckstein in the first, to get in scoring position.

Jeff Francoeur went 2 for 5 with two RBI, and Julio Franco, playing his first game with the Braves since 2005, drove in two runs with a single that made it 10-0.

Jones, whose 19th homer made it 2-0, added an RBI single in the fourth for a 7-0 lead.

Mike Maroth (0-3) gave up all of Atlanta’s runs. The left-hander walked three and gave up 11 hits without a strikeout. The worst stretch was the five-run fourth, when he allowed six straight hits with two outs.

"I just couldn’t get that third out," Maroth said. "They kept getting hits. I didn’t get it done. I never gave my team a chance to win. I got down from the first inning, and it kept getting worse."

After a 10-4 loss Saturday at Philadelphia, Maroth has a 13.09 ERA in his last two starts, allowing 20 hits and five homers in a span of 11 innings.

"He’s in a rut," Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa said. "He’s not himself."