MIAMI (AP) – Marcus Giles homered and the Atlanta Braves spoiled Dontrelle Willis’ bid to become the first 13-game winner in the major leagues, beating the Florida Marlins 9-1 Tuesday night for their fifth straight victory.

Jorge Sosa (4-1) held Florida to four hits – including Carlos Delgado’s 15th homer – in six crisp innings for his second win in four starts since moving into Atlanta’s rotation June 14.

Willis beat the Braves 8-0 in Atlanta for his NL-leading 12th win last Thursday, but they jumped on him early this time and finished with three triples.

The left-hander allowed two runs in the first and fell behind 4-0 by the fourth. He gave up five runs and a season-high 11 hits in seven innings, raising his ERA from 1.76 to 2.04.

Giles’ homer was the first allowed by Willis (12-3) in 12 starts since April 23. Julio Franco had three RBIs for Atlanta, which has won seven of eight and 10 of 12.

Florida’s Alex Gonzalez went 0-for-3, ending his career-high hitting streak at 17 games.

Rookie Kelly Johnson hit his first major league triple following Rafael Furcal’s leadoff single in the first to end a 19-inning scoreless streak by Willis, who pitched his third shutout of the season and fourth complete game in his previous outing.

Franco added a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead. Giles’ homer in the third increased the lead to three, and Wilson Betemit hit an RBI single following Brian Jordan’s leadoff triple in the fourth to put Atlanta up 4-0.

Delgado led off the bottom half with his 15th homer, tying Miguel Cabrera for the team lead.

The Braves got three straight two-out hits off Willis in the seventh, including Andruw Jones’ RBI single.

Giles hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth. During a downpour, Franco added a two-run triple off Chris Resop, who was making his major league debut.

The rain caused a 43-minute delay with two outs, Franco on third and Resop behind 3-0 against Johnny Estrada.

Only a couple hundred fans remained to see Estrada hit Nate Bump’s second pitch for an RBI double when play resumed.

Atlanta had a rain-shortened 7-2 win Monday when that game was called after a 34-minute wait in the eighth.

Notes: Sosa lowered his ERA from 2.97 to 2.78. He threw 54 of 88 pitches for strikes. … The Braves are 7-3 against Florida this season. … Gonzalez went 19-for-63 (.302) with one homer and five RBIs during his streak. … Willis made a sensational defensive play in the fourth. He hustled to his left to make a diving catch on Sosa’s popped-up bunt near the first-base line and threw to second baseman Luis Castillo to double off Betemit at first. … Resop allowed four hits and four runs in two-thirds of an inning.

AP-ES-06-28-05 2243EDT


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