ATLANTA, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Kevin Millwood won his eighth consecutive decision and improved to 15-1 in his last 22 starts Wednesday as the Atlanta Braves coasted to an 8-5 victory over the New York Mets in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.
Millwood (17-6) lasted 5 2/3 innings after throwing 107 pitches and allowed one run and seven hits. He has allowed two or fewer runs in 18 of his last 22 starts and the Braves have won 20 of those games.
Chipper Jones hit a pair of homers and matched a career-high with five RBI and Mark DeRosa enjoyed the first four-hit game of his career for the Braves.
Jones is a career .348 hitter with 25 home runs and 74 RBI in 386 at bats against the Mets. He hit a three-run homer off starter Steve Trachsel (9-11) in the third inning and added a two-run shot off Satoru Komiyama in the eighth. It was his third multi-homer game of the season and 26th of his career.
DeRosa hit a solo homer in the fourth inning and had three singles.
John Smoltz needed to get just one out -- a strikeout of Ty Wigginton in the ninth -- for his 50th save. He has reached 50 saves faster than any pitcher in history, doing so in the 143rd game of the season. Both Bobby Thigpen, who holds the single-season record with 57, and Dennis Eckersley did it in team game No. 145.
Smoltz also became just the second pitcher in major league history to record separate seasons of 20 wins and 50 saves.
The afternoon game was a makeup of a June 4 rainout, forcing the teams to play a doubleheader on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Six New York police officers who performed heroic duties during those attacks at the World Trade Center took part in an on-field ceremony.
