ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Chipper Jones is pretty sure his last trip to Tropicana Field has ended early.
Jones
left after seven innings of the Atlanta Braves' 5-3 win over the Tampa
Bay Rays on Friday night because of a bruised left calf.
The
third baseman stayed in the game after B.J. Upton's hard one-hop infield
single hit his leg in the third. Juan Francisco pinch-hit for Jones in
the eighth.
"My career in Tampa is over," said Jones, who showed
reporters a nasty, ball-size bruise just above the ankle while sitting
at his locker. "That really hurt. If you're standing 85 feet from home
plate and somebody hits a rocket at you, you better get a glove on it. I
didn't."
Jones, who is retiring after this season, is day to day.
"We'll check it, but he'll have a tough time playing (Saturday)," Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
Jones
received a partial standing ovation before his first at-bat leading off
the second. After he tipped his helmet to the crowd, Jones singled to
center. The Florida native later scored from third to make it 2-0 on a
wild pitch by James Shields.
Tommy Hanson pitched seven effective
innings and Freddie Freeman drove in two runs as the Braves won for the
sixth time in the last eight games.
Hanson (5-3) allowed two
runs and six hits. Freeman had a run-scoring double and Brian McCann hit
an RBI single that put the Braves up 4-2 in the fifth.
"I feel
real good," Hanson said. "I think the biggest thing right now is my
fastball command. When it's there, I'm throwing really well and
everything else kind of follows that."
Shields (6-2) gave up four runs and seven hits over six innings for Tampa Bay. Luke Scott had two RBIs.
"I
definitely put that loss on me," Shields said. "They have good hitters
one through nine. Hanson pitched a good game. You definitely know why
they are at the top of their division."
Jonny Venters gave up Scott's RBI single in the eighth before Craig Kimbrel got three outs for his 12th save.
Martin
Prado doubled and scored on Freeman's single as the Braves took a 1-0
lead in the first. Prado extended Atlanta's advantage to 5-2 on a solo
homer off J.P. Howell in the seventh.
Tampa Bay got within 2-1 on
Elliot Johnson's RBI bunt single in the second. Scott tied it 2-all on a
bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the third, when right fielder Jason
Heyward made a nice running catch.
"That ball kept hooking
towards the line," Gonzalez said. "We had a perfect angle in the dugout
and at first (we thought) it was going to drop. He really narrowed the
ground there."
NOTES: Jones, who went 1 for 3, enjoys
playing in domed stadiums like Tropicana Field. "You don't have wind,
you don't have rain," Jones said. "Most baseball players like the
conditions perfect." ... The Rays recalled RHP Alex Cobb from Triple-A
Durham to start Saturday's game. He is taking the spot of RHP Jeff
Niemann, who is on the 60-day DL with a right leg injury. To make room
for Cobb, Tampa Bay optioned RHP Josh Lueke to Durham. ... Hanson struck
out Rays 1B Carlos Pena on a 14-pitch at-bat in the sixth. "It was a
battle between me and him, and I just kept pumping strikes in there and
it turned out I got the strikeout," Hanson said.
