Injury lingers for Braves' Escobar

It was the sixth consecutive game that Escobar missed, and manager Bobby Cox said they can't carry him on the active roster much longer if he doesn't play.

Escobar told the manager it wasn't sore when he took batting practice, but that he wouldn't be able to play defense without risking further injury.

"I think we have to start thinking about disabling him," Cox said after Thursday's 5-2 loss, the fourth loss a row for the Braves.

If they put him on the 15-day DL, they could make the assignment retroactive to Saturday, the day after Escobar last played. That is, provided they don't pinch-hit him or bring him in for late-innings defense or any other reason.

If he enters a game, then the DL assignment can only begin the day after that game. That's why Cox said he would have to consider DL'ing Escobar if this goes much longer, because the Braves are playing short-handed in this situation.

Rookie Diory Hernandez made his sixth consecutive start in place of Escobar. Hernandez is 4-for-23 (.174) with no RBIs and one walk in his first stint in the majors.

Escobar's absence was particularly glaring during the Giants series. The Braves scored a total of five runs in three games at San Francisco, while hitting a paltry .165 and being swept by the Giants for the first time since 2003. They were just 3-for-23 with runners in scoring position.

Escobar's .439 average (18-for-41) with runners in scoring position ranked fourth in the National League before Thursday, and he was fifth with a .458 average in 24 RISP at-bats with two outs.

Chipper stays in lineup

Chipper Jones was back in the lineup Thursday, after going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts Wednesday — the first four-strikeout game of his career — while hobbling on a sprained right big toe in a 6-3 sweep-completing loss at San Francisco.

Three of his strikeouts were against 45-year-old lefty Randy Johnson, who pitched six innings of three-hit ball in his 299th win. Jones had six homers in 33 previous at-bats against Johnson.

"He just caught me at a good time," said Jones, who missed four starts with severe bruising around his big toe and returned to the lineup only on Tuesday.

Jones buckled in pain on a third-strike check swing against Johnson the sixth inning Wednesday, when the switch-hitter struck out with the potential tying run on base and the score 2-1. Jones said the sore toe prevented him from pushing off with his right foot batting right-handed.

"I'm all right left-handed," Jones said before Thursday's game against Arizona righty Dan Haren. "Right-handed, that's something I'll have to talk to Bobby about."

The Braves are scheduled to face one lefty in the Arizona series, Doug Davis on Saturday.

Cox: Jurrjens an All-Star

Before Thursday, there were 17 National League pitchers with more wins than Jair Jurrjens (4-2), including Braves teammate Derek Lowe.

Cox and Lowe, who was 6-2 before his Thursday night start against Arizona, said it would be wrong if Jurrjens were kept off the NL All-Star team because of his lack of wins.

Jurrjens takes a 2.07 ERA and 1.30 road ERA into his Friday start against the Diamondbacks, the third-best ERA in the league and second-best road ERA in the majors.

He hasn't allowed more than two runs in eight consecutive starts, with a 1.98 ERA in that span — and a 2-2 record. The Braves scored one or no runs while he was in four games.

"Wins are so non-indicative of how people pitch sometimes," said Lowe, who has an ERA (3.45) nearly 1-1/2 runs higher than Jurrjens.

Lowe has received an average of about three more support runs per nine innings pitched than Jurrjens (3.84). Javier Vazquez's average run support (7.31) is nearly double that of Jurrjens.

"He's pitched way better than me," Lowe said of Jurrjens.