Hudson, Jones smack Brewers

MILWAUKEE - Welcome to baseball's stretch run.

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Although Atlanta will likely carry no more than a four- or five-game division lead into September, the encouraging actions and words provided Sunday from one of the team's best arms and its main power source did nothing but foster the notion that the final month will be a mere segue to another postseason appearance.

Tim Hudson's second complete game in as many starts and Andruw Jones' pair of tape- measure homers provided plenty of punch in the Braves' 5-2 victory over Milwaukee at Miller Park. The win ended a 4-2 road trip through the Midwest.

Atlanta (74-56) will have at least a 31-game lead entering a 10-game homestand, which starts tonight and includes seven games against division rivals Washington and New York.

"We've got to take advantage of these games at home against teams that, on paper, we should beat," Chipper Jones said of the stretch, which also includes three against Cincinnati. "We'd go a long way toward clinching this division. And we'd also go a long way toward losing this division with a bad one."

Andruw Jones continued to reset his career high for homers by smacking his 41st and 42nd blasts of the year off Brewers left-hander Chris Capuano, a 14-game winner, to stay atop the major leagues.

The first, a three-run shot, also made him the first NL player to crack 100 RBI.

For Hudson, it was the first time in his career that he threw back-to-back complete games.

"I finally feel like I'm the guy that they traded for," said Hudson, who was acquired from Oakland in December and given a four-year extension before he threw a regular-season pitch.

"Early in the year, I felt like I wasn't holding up my end of the bargain."

Hudson (11-7) has won four of five starts and five of seven decisions since returning from a DL stint in June and July for a strained oblique.

"My concern is how strong am I going to be at the end of the year," Hudson said.

"I don't want to be macho and try to get complete games under my belt and then pay for it come September."

Reach Travis Haney at travis.haney@morris.com.