Francoeur Saves the Day for Braves

Atlanta’s relievers had their biggest blowup of the season Thursday night, but Cincinnati’s latest closer wound up taking the loss in a matchup of struggling bullpens.

Jeff Francoeur’s two-out single in the bottom of the 10th inning drove in Chipper Jones with the winning run as the Braves recovered from a ninth-inning collapse to beat the Reds, 8-7.

Francoeur’s hit came against Todd Coffey, who followed David Weathers in the closer’s role. The Reds’ relievers have a 5.28 earned-run average, 10 losses and 13 blown saves.

Despite rallying with five runs in the ninth, the Reds lost their sixth in a row.

In the 10th, Jones hit a one-out double. Coffey struck out Andruw Jones before intentionally walking Brian McCann to face Francoeur, who lined a single to left. Jones just beat Adam Dunn’s throw to the plate, giving the Braves their fifth win in seven games.

Jorge Sosa suffered Atlanta’s 17th blown save in 35 chances, as the Braves couldn’t hold a 7-2 lead in the ninth.

Washington 8, Florida 7 -- Rookie Ryan Zimmerman, who entered the game with 34 hits with runners in scoring position, singled home the winning run with two out in the bottom of the 11th inning. He hit a 3-1 pitch from reliever Jason Vargas through the middle to drive in Brian Schneider, who had started the inning by reaching base on an error by shortstop Hanley Ramirez.

San Diego 5, Philadelphia 3 -- Chan Ho Park survived a shaky start at Philadelphia to earn his fourth win in his last five decisions. The Phillies have lost eight consecutive series since sweeping Arizona on June 5 to 7. Park yielded three runs and five hits in the first two innings but gave up only four hits over the next five innings with only one baserunner reaching second base.

Milwaukee 2, Chicago 0 -- Chris Capuano pitched a six-hit shutout at Milwaukee to continue his mastery of the Cubs. He has not yielded a run in 26 innings against the Cubs this season in three starts -- all wins. He shut them out in a 9-0 victory April 30.

Houston 4, St. Louis 2 -- Rookie Taylor Buchholz pitched six solid innings, and Brad Lidge got four outs to earn his 21st save and 14th in his last 15 opportunities. The Cardinals lost for the 10th time in their last 11 road games.

New York 7, Pittsburgh 5 -- Cliff Floyd and David Wright each drove in two runs and Steve Trachsel won his sixth consecutive start, working into the seventh inning at Shea Stadium.