With lead in batting race, ailing Chipper will sit

Chipper Jones was on the bench Saturday with an inflamed throwing shoulder and an 11-point lead in the National League batting race.

If he doesn’t play again this season, the 36-year-old third baseman would likely win his first batting title with a .362 average. Albert Pujols (.351) is the only player in either league within 30 points of Jones.

Jones said he doesn’t want to back into the title and expects to play at some point in the final seven games. The Braves finish the home schedule Sunday against the Mets, then close with games in Philadelphia and Houston.

“I have no doubt I’ll probably get back in there,” he said. “At what point, I don’t know.”

Jones has a shot at the first batting title by a Braves player since Terry Pendleton in 1991, and also is close to the highest recorded single-season average for a switch-hitter, Mickey Mantle’s .365 in 1957.

Jones said the shoulder had bothered him for well over a month and worsened Friday to the point he didn’t think he could make a strong throw or swing the bat effectively. He took himself out after six innings.

“It’s been bugging me a long time,” he said, “but I’ve been able to get past it with treatments or whatnot. Last night it was just a different level. I couldn’t throw the ball across the infield with anything on it and couldn’t get the bat head where I needed it. I didn’t feel like I was helping the team.

“I felt terrible swinging the bat. At the time we still had a chance to win [the Mets scored four runs in the eighth inning to win 9-5]. I would have hated for it to be come down to a defensive play down the line and me not be able to make the play.”

He took a series of anti-inflammatory pills late Friday but said the shoulder hadn’t improved by Saturday. When he took the same medication in late August, the shoulder pain subsided for about a week, Jones said.

He was 18-for-46 (.391) in September with one homer, six RBIs and a .533 on-base percentage in 13 games before Saturday. He had one RBI in his past six games and was 0-for-3 on Friday, including a strikeout looking with bases loaded.

Pujols, who was 0-for-3 in Saturday’s loss to Chicago, could go 16-for-30 in his final eight games and finish at .361.