Jones' batting average on his birthday: .500
Chipper Jones had another birthday to remember, right down to teammate Brian McCann's belly flop of a slide.
Jones celebrated his 36th birthday by going 3-for-3, including a homer, to lead host Atlanta past the NL East-leading Florida Marlins 7-4 on Thursday night.
For his career on April 24, he's hitting .500 (18 of 36) with 4 homers, 8 RBI and 10 runs.
"I always feel like I need to do something cool on my birthday," the third baseman said. "Hit a homer or have 3 hits. I would have taken either one, to be honest. Today, I got 'em both. It was awesome."
Not that it's anything new this season. Jones raised the best average in the majors to .442, with 7 homers and 20 RBI.
"Every day has been his birthday," manager Bobby Cox joked.
While Jones got everything from a Dale Earnhardt video box set to an autographed guitar from country stars Rascal Flatts, the best present of all might have been a surprise from McCann, the Braves' slow-running catcher.
In the eighth, he drove one off the wall in right, the ball bouncing away from Jeremy Hermida, and flopped into third with something resembling a headfirst slide for his first career triple. Jones nearly buckled over in the dugout, laughing at McCann's inelegant work on the basepaths.
"That was just pure poetry in motion," Jones said, still chuckling about it in the clubhouse. "That's pretty much how Pete Rose used to draw it up."
McCann's hustle set up an insurance run. Jeff Francoeur followed with a deep drive to center for the sacrifice fly, his third RBI of the game.
"I owe McCann a beer," said Francoeur, a friend of the catcher's since childhood.
McCann's triple was his first since he had two for Double-A Mississippi in 2005.
"There's no cameras?" he said after arriving at his locker. "I may never get another triple in my life, so I'm excited."
Is his base-running underrated?
"No," McCann replied. "I'm as slow as it looks."
Cardinals 6, Pirates 2: Brian Barton had a 2-run single in the fifth inning -- the first hit off erratic Pittsburgh starter Tom Gorzelanny -- and St. Louis avoided its first three-game skid of the season with a win over the host Pirates.
Gorzelanny (1-3) took a no-hitter and a 1-0 lead in the fifth despite allowing base runners in all but one inning, only to walk the bases full ahead of Barton's single. Gorzelanny threw only 49 of his 94 pitches for strikes, with the wildness (7 walks) forcing him out of the game even though he gave up only 2 singles in 5 innings.
Astros 5, Reds 3: Lance Berkman hit his 18th homer at Great American Ball Park -- the most by any visiting player -- and drove in 3 runs, leading visiting Houston to its fifth straight win.
Houston's last five-game winning streak was April 16-20 last season.
Phillies 3, Brewers 1: Pat Burrell's two-out, 2-run double broke a tie in the eighth, and Philadelphia held on to beat host Milwaukee.
Burrell's deep drive to the left-field corner capped the Phillies' two-out rally off Brewers reliever David Riske (0-1), who got the first two outs of the inning before walking Greg Dobbs and giving up a single to Chase Utley.
Nationals 10, Mets 5: Felipe Lopez's grand slam and 2-run single gave him a career-high-tying 6 RBI and led host Washington to just its fourth victory in the past 20 games.