Jun 6, 2008 9:07 am US/Central
Chipper Jones Hits 400th Career Home Run
ATLANTA (AP) ―
Chipper Jones came out of the dugout for what he said was only the second curtain call of his career.
You'd think after 400 home runs he'd have gotten a little more love.
The Atlanta slugger became the third switch-hitter to crack the 400 milestone, following Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray, and finished with four hits to raise his major league-leading average to .418 in a 7-5 victory over the Florida Marlins on Thursday night.
"To be lumped in with those guys is what I'm shooting for," Jones said. "This is a step closer but still a long, long way from those guys. They set the bar really high."
The 36-year-old Jones lifted his batting average from .409 by going 4-for-5 with singles in the first, third and eighth. He hit his 14th homer of the season about 10 rows deep into the right-field seats with two outs in the sixth.
As the video board replayed the shot, fans called Jones out of the dugout.
"That was my second curtain call here in Atlanta," he said, before reciting details of a three-run homer off New York Mets pitcher Al Leiter in 1999.
Only two curtain calls? Jones said that's fine with him.
"This is a town that's laid back and it fits my personality," he said.
The last time a major leaguer was hitting .418 or better through games of June 5 was in 1994, when Paul O'Neill of the New York Yankees had a .430 average on that date, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The last major leaguer to hit .400 for a season was Boston's Ted Williams, who batted .406 in 1941.
In other NL games, it was San Diego 2, the New York Mets 1; the Chicago Cubs 5, the Los Angeles Dodgers 4; Philadelphia 5, Cincinnati 0; Pittsburgh 4, Houston 3; and the Nationals and Cardinals split a day-night header, St. Louis winning the opener 4-1 before Washington took the nightcap 10-9 in 10 innings.
Brian McCann gave the Braves a 6-5 lead in the fifth with a two-run shot, and Yunel Escobar also connected along with Jones.
The three homers came off the Marlins' Ricky Nolasco (5-4), who gave up 12 hits and seven runs in 5 2-3 innings, ending his bid for his fifth straight win.
Nolasco noted he is only the latest to give up a homer to Jones.
"He makes you pay when you go over the middle of the plate," Nolasco said. "He's been doing it for years, and he's not going to stop anytime soon."
Jair Jurrjens (6-3) gave up a season-high 11 hits and five runs in six innings but won as the Braves rallied from a 5-3 deficit.
Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth for his third save, one night after Atlanta's Manny Acosta gave up four runs in the ninth inning to blow a two-run lead.
Florida's Hanley Ramirez led off the first inning with his third homer in two games.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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