Green delivers in 12th inning

The skidding Boston Red Sox are headed in one direction. The Braves hope they are going the other way.

After being swept by the New York Yankees and falling 8 1/2 games out of first place in the American League East, the Red Sox desperately needed a victory to stop their slide.

They didn't get it. Nick Green saw to that.

The Braves' homegrown rookie second baseman homered with two on in the 12th inning for a 6-3 victory Friday night before a crowd of 42,231 at Turner Field.

"It was a great win," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "It was a super ballgame. Just unreal."

Holiday fireworks followed the opener of the interleague series, but Green had already supplied the biggest bang.

Mark DeRosa led off the winning rally with a single and Rafael Furcal doubled. With J.D. Drew and Chipper Jones, who had both already homered, waiting to bat, Boston manager Terry Francona elected not to intentionally walk Green with no outs.

The strategy, like most of what the Red Sox have done lately, failed.

Green picked on a 1-and-1 pitch from rookie right-hander Anastacio Martinez, who had been recalled from the minors earlier in the day, and sent his third major-league homer over the left-center field fence.

Green struck out his first three times up, but he tied the score in the 10th inning with a sacrifice fly, then won it in the 12th.

"Greenie got the big one again," Cox said.

"I'd had a tough day and to top it off with something like that makes it very exciting," Green said.

The downcast Red Sox, 13-19 since May 27, were almost all off the playing field by the time Green touched home plate and was mobbed by his happy teammates.

For Boston, it was another bitter loss following a 5-4 defeat in 13 innings to the Yankees in the Bronx. For the Braves, it was their seventh victory in nine games and moved them within a game of .500 and within striking distance in the National League East.

It looked like the Red Sox had won the game in the 10th as Manny Ramirez drove in the tie-breaking run with a one-out single. The hit came off Kevin Gryboski, after Johnny Damon had led off with a single against Sam McConnell and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. David Ortiz was intentionally walked ahead of Ramirez.

The Braves weren't dead, however. Furcal led off the bottom of the inning with a double against Keith Foulke, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Green's sacrifice fly to center field.

With the score tied at 2 since the third inning, the Braves worked out of major jams in the eighth and ninth before the game went to extra innings.

In the top of the ninth, John Smoltz allowed a leadoff single to Nomar Garciaparra and the former Georgia Tech shortstop took second on a wild pitch. He was stranded there, however, as Smoltz struck out pinch-hitter Kevin Millar to end the Red Sox threat.

The Braves threatened in the bottom of the ninth against Mike Timlin, only to also come up empty as the game went into extra innings. With runners on second and third and two out, the Red Sox elected not to intentionally walk Julio Franco and the pinch-hitter bounced out to shortstop.

Ortiz gave the Red Sox a first-inning lead with his 22nd home run and Boston made it 2-0 in the top of the second against Braves starter Jaret Wright.

But Jones cut the Boston lead in half with his 11th home run leading off the bottom of the second inning against Red Sox starter Bronson Arroyo. Drew tied it in the third inning with his 19th of the season and fourth in six games.

Wright got his fourth consecutive no-decision despite another strong outing. He allowed four hits in six innings while striking out seven and walking one.

Chris Reitsma, the Braves' third pitcher, wiggled out of a major jam in the eighth inning. The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out, but Ortiz's fly ball to left wasn't deep enough to score a run and Ramirez struck out on three pitches.