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ATL@SD: Ross belts his first home run of the season

SAN DIEGO -- While proving why scouts and teammates consider him to be baseball's best backup catcher, David Ross showed his power potential and also guided Jair Jurrjens through another impressive outing that allowed the Braves to feel even better about their starting rotation.

Bouncing back from a tough-series-opening defeat, the Braves returned to PETCO Park Tuesday night and claimed an 8-2 victory over the Padres. The convincing outcome came courtesy of Ross' two-homer performance and Jurrjens' first complete game.

"It was a credit to [Jurrjens] to save our bullpen today," Ross said. "But his stuff today wasn't as sharp as he normally is for him. He gave up a lot of hits. He just pitched his tail off when guys got on base."

With his team having played extra-inning games the previous two days and three over the previous five days, Jurrjens couldn't have picked a better time to notch the first complete-game victory for a Braves pitcher since Javier Vazquez went the distance against the Nationals on Sept. 25, 2009.

"I was thinking about it, but I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself" Jurrjens said when asked if he entered the game attempting to go the distance. "So I came in here and just wanted to eat some innings."

While allowing two runs and nine hits in this 114-pitch effort, Jurrjens was far from overpowering. But the 25-year-old right-hander was certainly efficient while throwing just 46 pitches through the first five innings. By the time he took the mound in the sixth inning, he had gained a seven-run lead courtesy of a five-run sixth inning that was highlighted by Ross' second home run of the evening.

"That was big," Braves third baseman Chipper Jones said of the sixth-inning eruption that chased Padres starter Aaron Harang. "It gave [Jurrjens] the confidence that he could go out and make a mistake and not have it cost him."

With one game remaining, the Braves have positioned themselves to record a winning record on this 10-game road trip. This certainly wasn't something that seemed within reach when they lost three of the first four games in Los Angeles. But the tide turned this past weekend with a sweep of the defending world champion Giants.

While the Braves might have been deflated by Monday's 13-inning loss to the Padres, they were energized when Jones began Tuesday's power barrage with a two-run homer off Harang. The shot over the right-center-field wall increased his career RBI total to 1,509, tying him with Mickey Mantle for the second-most recorded by a switch-hitter in Major League history behind Eddie Murray's 1,917.

"We didn't play a real sharp game last night," Jones said. "That was disappointing after we played well in San Francisco. But we bounced back tonight, set the tone early and kept wailing away."

Ross did most of the wailing, as he drilled a second-inning solo homer off Harang. The Braves' 34-year-old catcher victimized his old Cincinnati batterymate again with the three-run sixth-inning homer that gave Jurrjens a seven-run cushion against a struggling offense.

While they were with the Reds together, Ross was behind the plate in 33 games that Harang pitched.

"I feel fortunate to have had the kind of night that I had off a guy like Aaron Harang," said Ross after producing his 10th career multihomer game and first since hitting two for the Braves in a June 19, 2009, loss to the Orioles.

Harang was charged with eight earned runs and seven hits in six innings. He issued two of his three walks in the sixth inning just before Alex Gonzalez produced a two-run, bases-loaded single.

"I couldn't hit my spots with anything, it didn't seem like," Harang said. "I rely a lot on my fastball command, and when you don't have that, you've got to flip everything else up there. So, you're using your second, third and fourth pitches to try to get through an aggressive team, and that's just not going to work."

Jurrjens proved to be much more efficient as he delivered first-pitch strikes to nine of the first 11 batters he faced and threw six pitches or fewer in three of his first five innings. The only run he surrendered before the ninth inning came when center fielder Nate McLouth took a bad route on a ball and allowed Orlando Hudson to produce a fourth-inning RBI triple.

Since missing the first two weeks of the season with a strained right oblique muscle, Jurrjens has allowed just three earned runs in the 22 innings that have encompassed his three starts. He credited Ross after producing this latest impressive effort.

"He's been catching all my games and we've been on the same path," Jurrjens said. "It makes it easier when you and your catcher have the same game plan. Every pitch he put down was the same one I was thinking about."

Ross said he was just thrilled that the Braves were able to win on a night when All-Star catcher Brian McCann didn't need to enter the game. After catching all 13 innings of Monday night's game, McCann had appeared in 23 of the first 24 games the Braves played this year.

"When I get in there, I want to win and give him the day off because I need him to be rested," Ross said. "I get overexposed if I play too much."

Those who have been around Ross on a regular basis understand that his contributions are often underappreciated.

"It's really huge to have a guy back there who is as good as anyone defensively in the game and then having him come in and swing the bat a little bit," Jones said. "Two homers and four RBIs out of a backup, that's a nice luxury to have."

Mark Bowman is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.