Braves rally, but fall to Astros in 9th

Houston — In the waning weeks of their season, the Braves finally became a team that wouldn’t go down without a fight.

It was a characteristic they displayed far too late to salvage a disappointing season, and Friday night it wasn’t enough to prevent another one-run road loss against the Houston Astros.

But it sure made things interesting.

After the Braves scrapped for a tying run in the ninth against National League saves leader Jose Valverde, they lost in the bottom of the inning when Darin Erstad hit a one-out homer against Julian Tavarez for a 5-4 Astros victory.

The Astros got a run when Michael Bourn raced all the way home from second base on a sacrifice fly, and another on a homer that right fielder Jeff Francoeur leaped for and nearly caught before a fan reached over his glove.

“You look at the way they scored some of their runs, it stinks to give it to them like that,” said Braves second baseman Kelly Johnson, who had a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning but saw his 22-game winning streak come to an end.

It was the longest streak in the National League this season.

“Something to be proud of, something I’ll tell my grandkids about,” said Johnson, whose streak was tied for sixth-longest in Atlanta Braves history.

But he said the goal was to win, and the Braves didn’t Friday.

“Great comeback,” said manager Bobby Cox, whose Braves must win their final two games Saturday and Sunday to avoid their first 90-loss season since 1990. “Our bullpen did a super job. Couldn’t ask for more from them.”

Well, at least not until Erstad’s walk-off homer against Tavarez.

Until then, the highlight for the hopeful crowd at Minute Maid Park had been Michael Bourn’s rare play in the fourth inning, when he raced home from second base — yes, second — on a sacrifice fly to give the Astros a 3-2 lead.

Braves center fielder Josh Anderson, a former Astros farmhand familiar with the quirkly grass mound beyond the center-field warning track, said he was thinking about that hill when he caught Lance Berkman’s long fly at the track.

Instead of planting his foot to stop and immediately throwing to the cutoff man, Anderson took a few steps to make sure he wouldn’t trip on the base of the incline. When he wheeled to throw to shortstop Omar Infante, it was too late.

Bourn was already approaching third base, and never slowed on his way home.

“[Right fielder Jeff] Francoeur was yelling to him to throw it,” Cox said. “We were yelling from the bench.”

Anderson would later hit a leadoff double in the eighth and score on Johnson’s sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 4-3. But he won’t soon forget the image of Bourn racing around third and scoring on the sac fly.

“It’s deeper than what obviously I’ve been used to all year,” Anderson said of the deep (436 feet) center field at Minute Maid. “Long way out there, and you’ve got that hill. I was thinking, ‘I’m about to hit the hill.’ I was being cautious.

“Long ways. Fast dude.”

The Braves tied it in the ninth with a run off Valverde for his first blown save in more than two months. He had allowed just seven hits in 19 consecutive scoreless appearaces before Friday, when Infante drew a leadoff walk.

Rookie Brandon Jones then grounded to first baseman Lance Berkman, who threw to second to start a potential double play. But the throw back to first went behind him, and Jones was safe as Infante scored.

Rather, Jones would’ve been safe, had he not made a movement toward second base. The Astros tagged him and after an umpire’s discussion, he was ruled out.

“I don’t know what he was thinking,” Cox said of Jones. “That was big, because we’ve got Chipper up next.”

Pinch-hitter Chipper Jones walked and Anderson singled, and the Braves had runners at second and third when Martin Prado struck out to end the inning.

Casey Kotchman’s two-run single in the fourth inning cut an early 4-0 deficit in half. Jorge Campillo had fallen behind early while giving up four runs and seven hits, including a Ty Wigginton home run to right field that Francoeur had a chance to catch before a fan reached over and grabbed it.