Los Angeles — Chipper Jones said Tuesday that the best way for the Braves to avoid a flurry of Mark Teixeira trade rumors would be to start winning.

AP (ENLARGE)

Braves' Gregor Blanco connects with a two-run single scoring Kelly Johnson and Mark Kotsay in the sixth.

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And on Tuesday night, they played like a team capable of doing that.

Brian McCann hit two home runs and Teixeira hit one after Yunel Escobar?s three-run double awoke a slumbering offense and propelled the Braves and Jair Jurrjens toward a 9-3 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"That was really fun," Jurrjens (9-4) said after allowing one run and five hits with six strikeouts in six innings, as the Braves evened series at a game apiece and gained a bit of ground in the National League East.

He outpitched counterpart Chad Billingsley (8-8), who had won four consecutive starts.

The Dodgers trailed 9-1 before getting two runs in the ninth against rusty Julian Tavarez, who just signed with the Braves Tuesday and hadn?t pitched since being released by Milwaukee two weeks ago. He retired just one of five batters.

It was the third two-homer game of McCann's career and the first this season for the All-Star catcher, who hit a leadoff homer in the three-run sixth inning and was part of back-to-back solo jacks with Teixeira in the ninth.

"Escobar had the big hit, then we just starting rolling," McCann said. "I think we're in a good state right now. Everybody's back healthy. This is our lineup, this is the lineup we broke spring training with. So we're all excited."

McCann and Teixeira have 17 homers apiece, one behind team leader Jones.

Mark Kotsay had three hits and Jeff Francoeur had an encouraging performance in his first game back after being spending three games at Class AA Mississippi. Francoeur had a single in the sixth inning and made a strong throw from right field to first base for an inning-ending double play in the third.

The Braves recalled the right fielder sooner than expected after placing three players on the disabled list after Sunday's 17-inning win against Houston.

The fourth-place Braves had lost seven of their previous nine games, failing to take advantage of a recent slump by the division-leading Phillies. Atlanta has four games left before the break — tonight's rubber game with the Dodgers and a three-game series at San Diego that starts Friday.

The Braves were dominated in a one-hit shutout by 33-year-old Dodgers rookie Hiroki Kuroda on Monday, and saw their scoreless road string extended to 23 consecutive innings before the fifth inning Tuesday.

The Braves' recent struggles served to stoke rumors and/or speculation that the team might field offers for Teixeira, who's eligible for free agency after the season. Teixeira said Monday he hoped trade rumors wouldn't become a distraction for the team.

"Him being traded or not traded is not going to become a distraction," Jones said Tuesday. "What's a distraction is losing, getting to the point where we have to trade him. That's what's a distraction. We can avoid all that if we start winning ballgames, plain and simple. [If] you don't want to listen to stuff about Tex, [then] start winning some games."

Billingsley had issued three walks but allowed no hits through four innings. He was 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA in his past four starts, so there was no reason to suspect what was about to happen.

Johnson and Kotsay began the fifth inning with consecutive singles before Jurrjens struck out trying to bunt. Gregor Blanco worked his second walk of the game to load the bases, and Escobar cleared them with a double to left field.

Before the hit, Escobar had been 13-for-58 (.224) with two RBIs since June 15.

McCann started the sixth with a homer. He had batted .188 with one homer in his previous 13 games, as even the All-Star catcher was not immune to the malaise that had affected much of the lineup.

The Braves had batted just .205 during their 2-7 skid entering Tuesday, and .200 during their past seven road games.

After going 23 consecutive scoreless innings on the road, they put together consecutive three-run innings. Before Tuesday, they had scored more than two runs in an inning once in eight games.

Francoeur followed McCann's homer with a single. One out later, Kotsay singled through the left side of the infield, chasing Billingsley.

After a Jurrjens sacrifice, Blanco singled to to drive in one run, a second run scoring on the play when catcher Martin he dropped a throw as tagged Johnson.