Braves Hold Off Giants

For the second night in a row, someone other John Rocker picked up the save for the Atlanta Braves.

Manager Bobby Cox insisted Rocker is still the closer, even though Rudy Seanez finished up a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants that stretched the Braves' winning streak to five Wednesday night.

"It gives Rock a chance to kind of regroup," Seanez said after going two innings for his first save of the season. "It's not necessarily that someone else is going to come in and be the closer. But it's nice that he has a chance to solve whatever his problem is."

"It doesn't mean Rocker is not our closer," Cox said. "I was trying not to use him at all tonight and Rudy was the one who was rested."

Kevin Millwood pitched seven strong innings but left with the bases loaded, no outs and the Braves clinging to a 5-3 lead in the eighth. Seanez needed only two pitches to escape the mess, getting Felipe Crespo on a double-play grounder while a run scored and Armando Rios on another grounder to second.

Seanez pitched a perfect ninth, striking out Bobby Estalella for the final out and sending the Giants to their fifth straight loss.

"No runs would have been better," Seanez said, referring to the run scoring on the double play, "but you can't have everything."

Atlanta built a 5-0 lead before San Francisco rallied with a run in the seventh and three more in the eighth. The Braves withstood a San Francisco comeback on Tuesday night, as well, nearly squandering a pair of four-run leads.

Atlanta got seven hits from the first 11 batters to face Kirk Rueter (2-2), scoring two runs in the first inning and two more in the second. The San Francisco left-hander settled down and allowed only one more run before he was replaced after the sixth.

"They were jumping on my first pitch away," Rueter said. "So I started throwing more balls inside than usual."

Millwood (4-2) dominated the Giants through six innings, allowing just two hits. He lost his shutout bid when Jeff Kent led off the seventh with his 11th homer into the left-field seats.

Millwood left after giving up three singles in the eighth, including another run-scoring hit by Kent. The Atlanta right-hander pitched high in the strike zone all night, getting only two of his outs on grounders, and bounced back from his shortest start in more than a year, a four-inning stint at Florida.

"I was kind of in a stretch where I wasn't throwing well," Millwood said. "Today, I got back to where I need to be."

The Braves had nine hits against Rueter and three more against reliever John Johnstone, giving Atlanta 43 hits in three games.

Quilvio Veras led off the first with a double into the left-field corner and scored on Andres Galarraga's opposite-field double that banged against the right-field wall, his fourth RBI in two games. Jordan, who had two homers and three RBIs on Tuesday night, followed with a line-drive single up the middle to bring home Galarraga.

Bobby Bonilla led off the second with his third homer of the season. Rafael Furcal doubled to deep center, moved to third on Millwood's sacrifice and trotted home when Veras singled.

Furcal used his speed to force the Giants into another throwing error their thirin two games and leading to an unearned run in the fourth. The 19-year-old shortstop dropped a bunt to third and wound up at second when Bill Mueller's throw sailed past first baseman J.T. Snow.

Furcal moved to third on Millwood's second straight sacrifice and sprinted home when Snow made an ill-advised catch with his back to the plate on a foul pop-up near the stands and threw wildly home, resulting in a rare sacrifice fly to first.

"You've got to catch that ball," San Francisco manager Dusty Baker insisted. "He had the presence of mind. He knew Furcal was going. It just wasn't the best throw."

Andruw Jones saved a run for the Braves in the fourth with another spectacular defensive play. The two-time Gold Glover made a diving grab on a liner by Crespo with Kent at second after a two-out double.

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