The Braves needed something to break up the monotony of a five-game losing streak. They got it twice over Friday.

The Phillies leaving town didn't hurt. And maybe in a roundabout way, Jeff Francoeur leaving town didn't either.

On a night where every Braves hitter had been reminded of what's at stake if the team's offensive woes continue, the Braves actually took a lead, and kept it, on their way to beating the Astros 6-2 in front of a sell-out July 4th crowd of 48,045.

"We've had some tough times lately, I guess that's no secret," said Tim Hudson, who benefited from the early run support on his way to his ninth win. "We just have to go out there and try to get through it the best way we can — play better, crisp baseball, do the little things right, start going out there playing hard, or harder than we have been. Play with some intensity and some passion."

While Francoeur played his first game at Class AA Mississippi in three years Friday night trying to right himself at the plate, another hometown kid — Jason Perry — was keeping his right field spot warm.

A former standout for Georgia Tech and a graduate of Jonesboro High, Perry tripled in his first major-league at-bat to help the Braves take a 2-0 lead in the second inning, their first lead in a week.

The Braves had plucked Perry from the minors, where he had hit .309 with 18 home runs and 55 RBIs in 69 games at Mississippi and AAA Richmond since signing as a minor-league free agent. He showed a little speed, too, on his line drive over Hunter Pence's head in right field on the eighth pitch of his first at-bat.

Martin Prado tripled for his first hit as a Brave on April 23, 2006, but Perry became the first Atlanta Brave to triple in his first major-league at-bat, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

"The only thing better would have been a homer," said Perry, who had nine family members at the game to celebrate with afterward.

Mark Kotsay drove in the Braves' first run on a sacrifice fly in the second inning to give the Braves their first lead in a game in 47 innings, dating to last Friday night's game in Toronto. That combined with three two-out hits in the third inning got the Braves a 3-0 lead to hand Hudson.

Kelly Johnson made it a 5-1 lead in the sixth with a two-run homer for his eighth home run of the year. That was plenty of support for Hudson, who had watched the Braves lose six of his previous seven starts while averaging only 3.2 runs in those losses.

All he needed then Friday was not let to anyone other than Lance Berkman or Carlos Lee beat him.

Hudson struck out Miguel Tejada in the first inning to strand both Berkman and Lee on base, and he worked around a Berkman RBI single in the sixth. He would have been out of that inning without a run scoring had Johnson not bobbled a potential double-play ball, but he got Lee to line softly to Johnson to end the inning with only one run scoring.

"You won't find two better hitters in the league than Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee," said Hudson, 9-6 with a 3.19 ERA. "If there are two guys in the lineup you don't want to hurt you, it's definitely those two guys right there."

Hudson, who was making his 300th career start, allowed the Astros four hits and three walks in seven innings.

His performance, some timely hits and a well-played defensive game put manager Bobby Cox in a good mood.

"That's what we're looking for," Cox said. "Finish up the first half on a positive note. Go get 'em the second."