Anderson hits 2 homers in Braves’ win

Houston — He’s as friendly and unassuming a country boy as you could find in professional sports, but Braves rookie Josh Anderson has his pride.

Asked last week about coming to play Houston for the first time since the Astros traded him to Atlanta, he said, “It’s fun to prove people wrong.”

He had a ball at the Astros’ expense Saturday night, when Anderson hit two home runs in the first two innings of the Braves’ 11-5 victory at Minute Maid Park.

“I had fun, man,” said Anderson, who had just one home run in 194 at-bats in the major leagues before hitting two Saturday. “Any time a team trades you, you want to make an impression. Obviously it’s fun to prove somebody wrong.”

Anderson and Jeff Francoeur had three hits and three RBIs apiece, and the Braves scored nine runs in the first two innings of its fifth win in seven games.

The Braves are ending a disappointing season on a positive note. With a win in the season finale today, they would have their third consecutive series win and avoid posting their first 90-loss season since 1990.

“It’s nice when you get out to a nine-run lead,” Francoeur said after the Braves racked up 18 hits while playing without their three best hitters — Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Yunel Escobar — in the lineup.

Jones flied out as a pinch-hitter and saw his majors-leading average slip a point to .364. He has an insurmountable eight-point lead over St. Louis’ Albert Pujols entering the final game, with Jones (shoulder) not expected to play.

The center of postgame attention was Anderson, traded by Houston in November for reliever Oscar Villarreal. Three months after the Astros gave Villarreal a two-year, $2.85 million contract, they released him with a 5.02 ERA.

Anderson, 25, spent most of the season at Class AAA, where he was Richmond’s player of the year and hit .314 with 42 steals. In 24 September games with Atlanta, he has hit .298 with six doubles, three homers and 10 RBIs.

“He’s not a power hitter — we know that,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said of the center fielder, who’s 8-for-14 with five extra-base hits in his past three games. “But he can run, and he can put the bat on the ball.”

He has played like a star at Minute Maid Park, where Anderson’s batted .449 (22-for-49) with seven extra-base hits in 38 games including a September 2007 Astros callup. He’s batted .273 with six extra-base hits in 150 at-bats elsewhere.

“I like hitting here; I ain’t gonna lie,” Anderson said, smiling.

After the Astros were eliminated from playoff contention Friday, the Braves’ lineup Saturday resembled something Cox might use in a spring split-squad game.

But the lineup made Houston starter Brandon Backe (9-14) look like an overmatched schlub brought over from the Astros’ minor-league camp.

Anderson homered to lead off the first inning, and the Braves matched a season high with seven hits in the second inning, including Anderson’s two-run homer and Francoeur’s bases-loaded double.

Rookie Brandon Jones had a two-run double in the first and an RBI single in the second, one of four Braves with two hits before the team’s fifth out.

Francoeur has hits in his past two at-bats with the bases loaded, after being 4-for-31 in those situations. He’s hit .286 with 22 RBIs in his past 40 games.

Braves rookie James Parr was staked to a 9-0 lead in two innings, but didn’t stick around long enough for a win. He lasted 4 1/3 innings and was charged with five runs (four earned) and eight hits in his fifth major-league start.

“You’ve got to go five innings right there,” said Parr, who allowed four doubles in a five-batter span. “I felt like he [Cox] could have left me in for one more hitter, or one more out. But it’s his decision. He’s a Hall of Fame manager. And we won the game.”

Parr threw six scoreless innings in each of his first two starts, but has a 10.45 ERA in his past three, with four homers and 12 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings. Sixteen of 29 hits he’s allowed have been extra-base hits.