Jupiter, Fla. — His mouth was swollen and his jaw sore the day after he was hit by a pitch, but Jeff Francoeur said Monday he hoped to miss only two or three games.

The Braves right fielder was hit in the left side of his mouth and cheek Sunday by a second-inning changeup thrown by St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Todd Wellemeyer.

X-rays taken at a local hospital were negative, and Francoeur sustained only lacerations inside his mouth from the frightening incident. No teeth were lost or cracked.

"Nothing's changed," manager Bobby Cox said Monday. "We're going to give him a few days. He's swollen up."

Francoeur was hit in the right side of his face while bunting during a 2004 game for Class A Myrtle Beach, a frightening incident that left him with multiple fractures around his right eye socket.

Braves third baseman Chipper Jones said it was important that any player get back in the batter's box as soon as possible to get any doubt or fear out of his mind.

"It's not going to bother him," Cox said. "We've just got to make sure he feels good when he gets back in there."

Francoueur said after Sunday's incident he felt fortunate not to get hit in the right side of his face, where he still has two titanium plates inserted to assist the healing process in 2004.

He returned from Jupiter to his spring rental home in the Orlando area after Sunday's game, while the Braves stayed overnight in South Florida for a second game against the Cardinals on Monday.

Francoeur said a doctor was confused upon first looking at CAT scan images of face Sunday, because the doctor wasn't initially aware of the 2004 incident and the plates that were used in that surgery.