Atlanta Braves 10, Milwaukee Brewers 3

Adam LaRoche went 3 for 4 and had 2 home runs and 3 RBIs to help lead the Braves to victory. It was his first career multihomer game, and he now has 7 home runs on the season. Other hitting stars were JD Drew, who was 2 for 4 with his 25th homer; Charles Thomas, who went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI; Rafael Furcal and Marcus Giles both went 2 for 5.

Mike Hampton (8-8) pitched 5 odd innings to pick the win. He allowed 9 hits, walked one, stuck out one, but only allowed one run. He had the benefit of 2 huge double plays. He faced one batter in the 6th inning after the power outage and gave up a leadoff double, and Kevin Gryboski relieved him and pitched a scoreless inning (leaving the runner on). Good move by Bobby Cox here, I think, because Hampton had a lot of luck earlier in the game and he could have been losing his stuff. Juan Cruz pitched 2 innings and gave up a run. Antonio Alfonseca pitched the last inning and gave up a run.

Milwaukee scored first in the top of the 2nd inning, but Atlanta countered with 2 runs in the bottom of the inning when LaRoche hit his first home run of the night; a two run shot. It was 3-1 when the power outage happened in the bottom of the 5th. When play resumed, Atlanta scored 4 times in the inning and had a 7-1 lead. It was crusing from there.

Jaret Wright is scheduled to pitch tomorrow against Ben Sheets. That should be a dandy pitching duel. But you never know...

Game notes: Johnny Estrada left the game after being hit by pitches twice; the 2nd time he was nailed on the kneecap and left the game. He was diagnosed with only a bad bruise, and they say he should play tomorrow.

Chipper Jones did not play because of a hand injury. I think he's day-to-day. Estrada moved up to cleanup, and Mark DeRosa played 3rd base and batted 8th.

Horacio Ramirez began his rehab assignment in Greenville, and he pitched 2 scoreless innings. When he comes back, the Braves will have a problem many other teams would love to have: 6 quality starting pitchers for 5 spots. It's possible Ramirez could go to the bullpen.

Last time I checked, Philadelphia was winning big, so it looks like the Braves will remain 6 games ahead of them in first place.