ATLANTA - Talk about timing. If Bobby Cox was going to break a dubious record, he couldn’t have picked a better moment.

Cox was tossed after the fifth inning Tuesday night, breaking John McGraw’s record for career ejections, but it fired up Atlanta and may have kept Chipper Jones around to drive home the winning run.

Rallying from a 3-0 deficit after their manager was thrown out, the Braves defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-4 on Jones’ run-scoring double in the ninth inning.

“You could sense the frustration mounting up,” Jones said. “When Bobby saw I was not long for this game, he decided to take over. It worked.”

Atlanta’s cantankerous manager was tossed after the fifth for arguing a called third strike on Jones — the 132nd ejection of his career to break the mark originally set by Hall of Famer John McGraw.

After closer Bob Wickman blew a 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth, the Braves finished off the Giants in the bottom.

Willie Harris led off with a walk against Steve Kline (1-1), and Kelly Johnson reached on a throwing error by Kline while bunting the runner along. Randy Messenger came on to give up Jones’ game-winning hit, which split the gap in left-center.

While baseball doesn’t keep records on ejections, the Society for American Baseball Research determined that McGraw was ejected 131 times in his career. That’s now only good enough for second place behind Cox.

“If he was going to get it, I’m glad that it came on behalf of me,” Jones said with a smile.

Since McGraw was kicked out 14 times as player, Cox already held the mark for managers. He shrugged off his spot in the unofficial record book.

“It’s absolutely no factor. It’s nothing,” Cox said. “It just means I’ve been around a long time, that’s all.”

Barry Bonds was in Hank Aaron’s home city for the first time since breaking the Hammer’s record. The new home run king went 0-for-1 with two walks before coming out in the fifth inning.

The Braves gave tepid recognition to the new record holder, replaying a taped tribute from Aaron that was initially shown on the video board in San Francisco after he hit No. 756 last week. Bonds was greeted with plenty of boos and signs questioning the legitimacy of his accomplishment in light of suspicions that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

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Aaron, a senior vice president of the Braves, wasn’t at the game. The team said he left Tuesday on a trip and wouldn’t return until after the three-game series.

Cox was tossed by plate umpire Ted Barrett after Jones was called out on strikes to end the fifth, with runners at second and third and the Braves trailing 3-0.

Jones was fortunate to stay in the game. He tossed his bat about 80 feet toward the Braves dugout, threw his helmet nearly as far and clearly muttered a couple of expletives.

Asked how he kept from getting ejected, Jones replied, “Good question. But it’s a good thing I didn’t.”

Barrett said he wasn’t aware of Cox’s record.