Braves rally again to beat Marlins

ATLANTA - Chipper Jones blushed over his 399th homer. Greg Norton was just relieved that he drove in more runs than he gave up with his shaky defense.

The torrid-hitting Jones moved within one homer of No. 400, hitting a three-run shot, and Norton came through with a two-run double in the eighth inning that rallied the Atlanta Braves to another come-from-behind victory, 5-4 over the slumping Florida Marlins on Tuesday night.

Jones moved ahead of former Braves great Dale Murphy on the career list, and pulled into a tie with Hall of Famer Al Kaline and one of Jones' ex-teammates, Andres Galarraga.

The next homer - and it shouldn't take long the way Jones is hitting - will make him the 43rd player in baseball history with 400.

''I don't ever think about that kind of stuff until you bring it up,'' Jones told reporters. ''It makes me blush.''

His face actually was a light shade of red, though that may have had more to do with the sweltering night at Turner Field - 87 degrees for the first pitch.

Jones, who actually managed to raise an average that already was over .400, sparked the Braves in the eighth with a leadoff single against Matt Lindstrom (1-1). Mark Teixeira followed with a double into the left-field corner, putting runners at second and third.

Norton, a .171-hitting utilityman forced to start because the Braves have two outfielders on the disabled list, drove the first pitch he saw just inside the first-base bag. The ball didn't stop rolling until it got to the corner, bringing home the tying and winning runs.

Out in left field, Norton had another adventurous night. He lost a fly ball in the lights, but managed to make the catch before falling on his rear end.

''It's some kind of comedy with me in left field,'' said the 35-year-old Norton, who's played mostly infield in his career. ''I'm just trying to drive in more runs than I give up.''

The Braves actually won a one-run game, improving their mark in those contests to 3-16, despite two more homers by Florida's slugging second baseman, Dan Uggla.

''Close games are tough,'' Uggla said. ''We won a lot of close games in April.''

Now, they're losing them. The Marlins have dropped six of their last seven to slide out of first in the NL East.

Will Ohman (3-0) won for the second night in a row with a scoreless inning.