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ATLANTA -- Williams Perez was masterful in his return from the minors and the struggling Atlanta Braves got to celebrate an ultra-rare home victory Wednesday night. Perez, starting in place of the traded Jhoulys Chacin, faced just a batter over the minimum in eight innings and the Braves snapped an 11-game home losing streak with a 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
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"Perez was really, really good," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "You can't ask for anything more."
Freddie Freeman was 3-for-4 and hit his sixth home run to back Perez as the Braves (8-23) won for just the second time in 18 games at Turner Field.
The only hits off Perez were a fifth-inning homer by Ryan Howard and a single by Freddie Galvez in the eighth that was followed by a double play.
"Hopefully this is one of those performances where he turns the corner," Gonzalez said. "He's been up four, five, six times in the past two years and usually when he got sent down it was because he wasn't going deep in games and pounding the strike zone. This time he did."
Perez (1-0) was promoted from Triple-A earlier in the day when Chacin was traded to the Los Angeles Angels and he built off the one-hitter he had thrown in his last start for Gwinnett.
The 24-year-old right-handed pitcher from Venezuela struck out four and walked none before being lifted for a pinch hitter, throwing all except 22 of his 85 pitches for strikes. He went three balls to just one hitter.
"I made some mechanical adjustments (before the last game for Gwinnett) and everything was working for me tonight," Perez said through an interpreter. "It felt good."
Perez retired 12 straight batters before Howard connected with the first pitch of the fifth inning for his eighth homer of the season.
He left a sinker up and Howard sent an opposite-field liner just over the fence in left field.
That was the only mistake Perez made, though.
"We ran into a guy who was on his game," said Howard, whose last four hits dating to April 29 have been home runs.
Phillies starter Jared Eickoff (1-5) didn't come close to matching Perez.
The Braves scored in each of the first three innings and Freeman's homer to center field with one out in the fifth knocked the right-hander out of the game.
Eickoff allowed seven hits and three of the four runs were earned in his shortest outing of the season.
Eickoff has been fine tuning his changeup and it isn't where he wants it to be yet.
"It's still a work in progress," he said. "It was good in the bullpen and then in the game I kind of pushed them a little bit. I don't know if I trusted it enough or what."
Kelly Johnson had an RBI single in the first, then Nick Markakis and A.J. Pierzynski delivered sacrifice flies the next two innings against Eickoff.
The Braves scored their second unearned run of the game in the eighth on the third error by the Phillies (18-15) for an extra cushion and Arodys Vizcaino finished off the victory while allowing two ninth-inning singles.
Perez was summoned Wednesday morning from Rochester, where he was scheduled to pitch for Gwinnett that night, and arrived at the ballpark in mid-afternoon at about the same time the trade of Chacin was announced.
He made 20 starts and three relief appearances for Atlanta as a rookie last year, going 7-6 for a 4.38 ERA.
Perez had a 5.11 ERA in three April starts for the Braves and he didn't fare any better in his first two starts in Triple-A before throwing his first career shutout against Charlotte last Friday.
"It was his night," the Phillies' Cameron Rupp said. "We didn't get him."
NOTES: RHP Jhoulys Chacin made five starts for the Braves prior to his trade to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday, going 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA. In exchange for Chacin, the Braves received LHP Adam McCreery, a 6-foot-8 former 22nd-round draft choice who hasn't pitched above the rookie level in the minors. ... Each team batted its starting pitcher eighth in the order. ... The three-game series concludes Thursday night, with RHP Vince Velasquez (4-1, 2.17 ERA) starting for the Phillies against RHP Aaron Blair (0-2, 3.31 ERA). ... The Phillies have a nine-game homestand beginning Friday against Cincinnati. ... The Braves' weekend interleague series in Kansas City begins a 10-game trip.
