The Braves knew Mark Teixeira could put a team on his back and carry it for a stretch, but they hadn't seen him do it this season. Sunday, the Seattle Mariners felt some of his pent-up power.

Teixeira hit three home runs and Tim Hudson pitched seven scoreless innings to lead the Braves to a 8-3 win against the woeful Mariners in a series finale at Turner Field.

Jason Getz/AJC (ENLARGE)

Braves' catcher Brian McCann high-five's teammate Greg Norton after McCann smashed his 14th homer of the season, following a Mark Teixeira solo home run in the 4th inning.

BY THE NUMBERS • Box score • Standings • Stats • Photos: Braves hammer M's • Braves with three homers in a game [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Teixeira's second career three-homer game helped Hudson (8-5) snap an 0-10 skid in interleague starts as the fourth-place Braves moved within four games of division leader Philadelphia in the National League East standings.

"I haven't been very happy with my performance so far this year, especially power-wise," said Teixeira, who had 10 homers before Sunday, and none in his past 12 games. "Hopefully this is a good sign of things to come."

With Chipper Jones (quadriceps tear) and Yunel Escobar (hip flexor strain) out of the lineup for the second game in a row, the outburst from Teixeira came at an opportune time.

"We got great pitching, and Teixeira blasted off today," said manager Bobby Cox, whose Braves won two of three against Seattle and will host a three-game series against Milwaukee starting tonight.

The Mariners got their only runs in the ninth inning against reliever Mike Gonzalez, who made his second appearance in five days since returning from a 12-1/2 month rehabilitation from elbow surgery.

Teixeira was the 14th Atlanta Braves player to hit at least three homers in a game, and the first since Chipper Jones did it in 2006 at Washington (no one has done it twice since the Braves moved to Atlanta).

Bob Horner hit an Atlanta franchise-record four homers in a game against Montreal on July 6, 1986, at old Fulton County Stadium.

"He's got a lot of RBIs," Cox said of Teixeira, a switch-hitter who ranks among league leaders with 55 RBIs, albeit a relatively quiet 55. "We've just been waiting for the homer swing to come around, and it sure did today."

Teixeira led off the second and fourth innings with homers off right-hander Carlos Silva (3-9), and hit a two-run shot off lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith in the seventh.

It was the fourth time in his career Teixeira hit homers from both sides of the plate in the same game, and the 10th time a Braves player did it (Jones has done it six times).

Brian McCann also homered two pitches after Teixeira in the fourth, the fourth time this season that Braves have hit back-to-back homers, each involving McCann, who has 14 homers.

Teixeira homered down the right-field line on Silva's 1-0 pitch in the second inning, crushed a first-pitch fastball to right-center in the fourth, and hit a first-pitch homer down the left-field line off Rowland-Smith in the seventh.

"When he gets hot, he's going to be fun to watch," McCann said of Teixeira, known for slow starts and summer surges in five seasons with the Texas Rangers.

The Braves gave up five prospects to get him (and lefty reliever Ron Mahay) in a July 31 trade, and Teixeira racked up 17 homers and 56 RBIs in 54 games after the deal.

He hit .262 with five homers and 27 RBIs in his first 48 games this season, and some fans and media members said Teixeira needed to carry more of the load when the Braves were struggling with injuries to key players.

He heard only cheers Sunday, when Teixeira received a standing ovation and curtain call after his third homer, tipping his helmet to a crowd of 30,965.

That gave him as many curtain calls (two) in less than one season with the Braves than Jones has gotten in his entire career with the Braves (Teixeira got his other curtain call in his first game with the Braves last year).

"I heard in Atlanta they don't give them very often," Teixeira said. "I feel blessed to have been treated like I have by the fans here."

He's eligible for free agency after the season and he's represented by powerful agent Scott Boras. The former Georgia Tech standout has given no indication that he would accept less money to stay in Atlanta than he might get offered by a bigger-market team in New York or elsewhere.

"It's easy for the fans to turn on you and say 'Sign now,' " Teixeira said. "But [Atlanta fans] have been great with me. Even when I've had a couple of 0-for [games], they've been supportive."