With John Smoltz gearing up for a move to the bullpen, and Mike Hampton stuck on the shelf for at least another month, Jo-Jo Reyes had an opportunity to do a lot more than beat the Reds on Saturday night in his first major league start of the season.

He could make an impression on Bobby Cox, who's taking a hard look at how the rotation might evolve after the latest round of injuries. Cox liked what he saw Saturday in a 9-1 victory over Cincinnati, and gave Reyes a hearty pat on the back as he took the ball from him in the sixth inning.

"Jo-Jo gave us a great 5 1/2 innings or so," Cox said. "I thought he looked darn good tonight."

Reyes didn't walk a batter until the fifth inning and gave up only one run in 5 1/3 innings to win for the third time in 11 major league starts.

"He was awesome," catcher Brian McCann said. "He worked down in the zone. He can be a big shot in the arm for us, with the news with Smoltzie. He's got the stuff to succeed at this level.

"Tonight was definitely a great start. I think he feels like he belongs. You first come up and you don't know where you fit in, and he comes up this time, his confidence was through the roof."

With help from pitching coach Roger McDowell, Reyes made adjustments in his footwork, but it might be that feeling more relaxed has helped the most.

"I couldn't control the adrenaline before," said Reyes, who was 2-2 with a 6.22 ERA last season. "I've been here before now, so I'm kind of getting used to it now."

The Braves scored two runs while Reyes was on the mound, but then unleashed seven runs on the Reds bullpen once he left.

That —- and the work of Jeff Bennett and Will Ohman to erase the two runners Reyes left in the sixth —- got Reyes the win. Dating to September, Reyes is 3-0 with a 2.82 ERA in his past four major league starts.

After going 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position to that point, four Braves batters collected hits with runners in scoring position to pour on six runs in the seventh inning. Five different Braves drove in runs in the inning, starting with a bases-loaded walk by Mark Teixeira, who fought back from an 0-2 count from Jeremy Affeldt.

McCann broke it open with a two-run double off Ryan Freel's glove in left field. It was one of six doubles by the Braves.

"It was good to see us kind of bust loose," said Chipper Jones, who was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. "We've been really struggling, especially through the middle of the order, to get things going, drive in big runs.

"Everybody got into it. Tex had a good at-bat to draw a walk against Affeldt, and Mac probably had the at-bat of the game against Affeldt."

Reyes had been 1-1 with a 1.17 ERA in five starts for Class AAA Richmond and brought some badly needed aggressiveness with him to Atlanta.

He pitched ahead in the count early, allowing only an infield hit his first time through the order. He gave up two walks in the fifth inning but was able to work around them.

By the sixth inning, the Reds figured out they could run on Reyes, and they chased him from the game by stealing three bases, two by Freel. Freel scored the only run on Reyes on an RBI single by Brandon Phillips.