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Braves blast Rockies
0521braves
Atlanta Braves' Yunel Escobar, right, is congratulated at home plate by Omar Infante, left, and David Ross after hitting a two-run home run against the Colorado Rockies during the fourth inning Wednesday in Atlanta. - photo by JOHN AMIS

ATLANTA — Yunel Escobar hit a three-run homer in a nine-run fourth inning and the Atlanta Braves beat the Colorado Rockies 12-4 on Wednesday night for their second straight lopsided win in the series.

The Rockies, who gave up 10 runs in the seventh inning of their 11-4 loss at Pittsburgh on Sunday, were tied 1-1 with the Braves before the big inning.

The Braves beat the Rockies 8-1 on Tuesday night, then set a season high with the 12 runs Wednesday. The nine-run inning was their biggest of the season.

Atlanta lost leadoff hitter Omar Infante in the sixth inning. He broke a bone in his left hand when hit by a pitch from Manny Corpas.

The Rockies have lost six of eight to fall a season-low nine games below .500.

Javier Vazquez (4-3) struck out the first four Colorado batters and finished with six in five innings. He gave up three hits and one unearned run.

Jorge De La Rossa (0-4) walked Martin Prado and Matt Diaz before hitting Jeff Francoeur to load the bases with no outs in the fourth. De La Rossa then walked David Ross to force in a run.

Jordan Schafer hit a sacrifice fly and Infante had a run-scoring single before Escobar's homer gave the Braves a 7-1 lead.

Escobar's homer knocked De La Rossa out of the game. He gave up seven runs and five hits and walked five in 3 2-3 innings, raising his ERA from 3.16 to 4.27.

Matt Belisle, who took over for De La Rossa, gave up seven hits and five runs, three earned, in two innings. Belisle gave up run-scoring singles to Diaz, Francoeur and Ross in the fourth.

The Braves, helped by two fielding errors by third baseman Ian Stewart, added two runs in the sixth. Schafer's bloop single drove in a run, and a second run scored when Stewart couldn't field Jeff Bennett's grounder.

The Braves' starting lineup did not include regulars Brian McCann, Garret Anderson and Casey Kotchman. Ross, the fill-in catcher, drove in two runs. Diaz, starting in left field, had three hits and scored four runs.

Ryan Spilborghs had two RBIs for the Rockies and Clint Barmes had a two-run double.

Notes: Chipper Jones' first-inning single was his 1,000th hit at Turner Field, the most of any player. ... The five walks and seven runs allowed were season highs for De La Rosa. ... X-rays on Infante's left hand revealed a broken fifth metacarpal. The team said he will be evaluated on Thursday. ... Jo-Jo Reyes made his first relief appearance since being removed from the Braves' rotation. He gave up two runs in the eighth and then left after hitting a single in the bottom of the inning. He suffered an apparent injury running to first base.

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