Teixeira homers twice in Braves win over Arizona

Aug 19, 2007, 20:25 GMT

Atlanta, GA - Mark Teixeira blasted two home runs and drove in four runs, and John Smoltz hurled eight solid innings as Atlanta downed Arizona, 6-2, in the finale of a three-game set at Turner Field.

Smoltz (11-6) allowed just two runs on five hits. The veteran right-hander also passed Phil Niekro to become the Braves' all-time strikeout leader by fanning Arizona's Mark Reynolds in the third inning for his 2,913th career strikeout. Smoltz finished with 12 strikeouts in the game and now has 2,920 K's.

Yunel Escobar also homered for the Braves, who avoided a sweep in the series with the win but remained 5 1/2 games behind the NY Mets in the NL East. Kelly Johnson added an RBI double.

Chris Young was 2-for-5 and stole home for the Diamondbacks, who lost for the first time in five games but continue to lead the NL West by a comfortable margin. Orlando Hudson was 2-for-4 with an RBI double.

Yusmeiro Petit (2-4) was touched for six runs on seven hits in just 3 2/3 innings of work en route to the loss.

The Diamondbacks went on top with a run in the first. Young singled to leadoff the game, moved to second on Stephen Drew's sacrifice bunt and scored when Hudson doubled to right.

The Braves answered with two runs of their own in the home half. Johnson got on with a one-out double and came around when Teixeira blasted a two-out, two- run homer to right-center, his sixth since being traded to Atlanta.

'You hit two home runs and lose the game, it doesn't mean anything,' Teixeira said. 'Getting a big win today was very important.'

Arizona evened things in the third. Young doubled to left and moved to third on Drew's groundball. After Hudson walked, the D-Backs pulled off a double- steal, with Young swiping home to make it 2-2.

'It was exciting,' Young said. 'Great job by Orlando. He got a great jump on the steal. He's the one that allowed me to do that.'

Atlanta went back in front on Teixeira second homer of the game. With Johnson on second and two down, the first baseman deposited the ball over the wall in right to make it 4-2.

The Braves kept pulling away with two more runs in the fourth. Escobar drilled a one-out, solo homer, his second of the year. Later in the inning, Willie Harris got on with a two-out triple and scored on Johnson's two-bagger to make it 6-2 and chase Petit from the game.

Game Notes

Smoltz now has 42 career outings with 10-plus strikeouts...This was Teixeira's second multi-homer game this season and 17th of his career. He has 20 homers on the year...Young became the fifth Diamondback in history to steal home.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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