ATLANTA — Jeff Francoeur, who came back home to Atlanta mired in an 0-for-19 skid, broke out of his slump in a big way Monday night.
The well-traveled right fielder went 4-for-5 with a double, triple and two RBIs as the Philadelphia Phillies won 5-2 behind right-hander Aaron Harang, also a former Atlanta Brave.
Francoeur, who broke in amid much hometown fanfare in 2005, is now with his seventh team and was hitting .169 with the Phillies coming in after playing in just 10 games for San Diego last year.
It was the first four-hit game for the 31-year-old since he did it for Kansas City against Arizona on May 20, 2012. He has accomplished the feat 11 times.
Harang (3-2) wasn’t as sharp as he had been against the Braves in Philadelphia on April 24, when he allowed just two hits over eight scoreless innings. He got a no-decision in that game, though, as the Phillies won 1-0 on an unearned run in the ninth.
This time Harang, who turns 37 on Saturday, allowed five hits and a run in six innings, striking out two and walking one.
Harang was 12-12 with a career-best 3.47 ERA for the Braves last season, but they made little effort to re-sign him as a free agent and he got a $5 million contract for 2015 from the Phillies.
Held to three singles through five innings, the Braves finally got to a tiring Harang in the sixth.
Shortstop Andrelton Simmons tripled and first baseman Freddie Freeman followed with an RBI single. Left fielder Jonny Gomes threatened to tie it, but his two-out smash stayed in the ballpark and center fielder Odubel Herrera made the grab crashing into the fence.
The Phillies got the three-run lead back in the seventh, though, as third baseman Cesar Hernandez had an infield single off Trevor Cahill with two outs. Then Francoeur tripled in the ninth off Jim Johnson after first baseman Darin Ruf doubled for his third hit of the game.
The Braves cut the final margin to three runs on a two-out infield hit by right fielder Nick Markakis off Jonathan Papelbon in the bottom of the inning.
Alex Wood was out after 4 1/3 innings and fortunate to have given up just three runs. He allowed nine hits, walked two and struck out four, laboring through 90 pitches.
The Phillies scored three runs in the first inning but couldn’t capitalize on chances to break the game open in the fourth and fifth.
Francoeur had an RBI double and catcher Carlos Ruiz had a two-run single as the Phillies got to Wood with two outs in the first. Francoeur had been hitless in his previous 19 at-bats before his double down the left-field line and Ruiz had just one previous RBI before he dropped in his hit.
Ruiz also singled in the fourth inning, making him 6-for-9 against Wood. The Phillies, though, left two runners in scoring position that inning, and reliever Michael Kohn got Ruiz to hit into a double play with the bases loaded to end the
fifth.
NOTES: RHP Severino Gonzalez, who got his first major-league win on Sunday at Miami, was optioned back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after the game. The 21-year-old allowed five hits and two runs over five innings in his second start after a rough debut at St. Louis on April 28. … 1B Ryan Howard was out of the Phillies’ lineup against LHP Alex Wood after going 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs in the series finale against the Marlins. … Philadelphia RHP Chad Billingsley will come off the disabled list Tuesday against the Braves and make his first start in the majors since
April 2013. He is coming off elbow and forearm surgery. … RHP Shelby Miller (3-1) will start the middle game of the series for the Braves. … The Phillies are trying to avoid an eighth straight loss in a road series. … The Phillies took two of three from the Braves in Philadelphia, April 24-26.
