Major League Baseball

Braves' Church homers in extras to beat Dodgers

Published Aug. 8, 2009 9:07 a.m. ET

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Garret Anderson drove in the tying run with a ninth-inning single against All-Star closer Jonathan Broxton and scored the go-ahead run on a single by Yunel Escobar during a four-run 12th, which Ryan Church capped with a three-run homer to give the Atlanta Braves a 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

Ramon Troncoso (4-1) gave up one-out singles in the 12th to Anderson and Brian McCann before rookie Scott Elbert came on and struck out Adam LaRoche. But Escobar lined the rookie's 3-1 pitch to right-center to score Anderson. The hit came only hours after manager Joe Torre announced that Elbert would make his first big league start on Sunday.

Two pitches later, Church hit his fourth homer into the lower seats in the right field corner.