Braves bullpen falters as Dodgers win

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Braves are a first-place team. It's not so obvious from the look of their bullpen.

Shaky closer Chris Reitsma blew another save - his third in the past eight games - as the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for a three-run ninth to beat the Braves 6-4 on Tuesday night.

Olmedo Saenz drove in two runs with a pinch-hit single off Reitsma, who didn't get an out. Oscar Robles added an RBI single off John Foster, that run also charged to Reitsma.

"I just wasn't good tonight," Reitsma said. "I didn't have any command of my change-up and breaking ball. It kind of snowballed on me."

With the Dodgers down 4-3, Jason Werth hit Reitsma's first pitch off the wall for a double, and moved to third when Hee-Seop Choi slapped a single to left. Ricky Ledee walked to load the bases.

Saenz, who has 53 starts this season, came up as a pinch hitter - a good choice considering his .368 average with runners in scoring position. He came through with a single to left, bringing home the tying and go-ahead runs.

"If I got something in the strike zone, I wanted to be aggressive and hit it hard," Saenz said. "I wasn't really trying to do anything else."

Reitsma (3-4) has blown seven of 22 save chances, exposing perhaps the biggest weakness for the NL-East leading Braves. Dan Kolb started the season as the closer but lost the job to Reitsma, who now appears to be trying to give it back.

"It stings a little bit," said Chipper Jones, one of three Atlanta players who hit home runs. "You can't keep losing games like this down the stretch. The other teams in our division are playing some pretty good baseball."

For the second straight time, Reitsma's woes in the ninth cost John Smoltz his 13th win.

"I love John to death," Reitsma said. "I hate it when this happens more than anybody in the world."

Smoltz was the Braves' closer the past three seasons, so he knows how difficult it is to get those last three outs.

"It's a role with a huge magnifying glass," Smoltz said. "We're fine. It'll turn."

Giovanni Carrara (7-4) got the win and Duaner Sanchez worked a perfect ninth for his first career save.

Jones, Brian McCann and Rafael Furcal homered off Derek Lowe in the first two innings. The Dodgers starter didn't give up anything else until the seventh.

"It was disconcerting, since I'm a ground-ball pitcher," Lowe said. "At least they were solos."