Jones ties Gehrig on hits list

of the Braves’ unbeaten streak in his starts. “My wife’s told me and some other people have said some of the names I’m being mentioned with. Whitey Ford? Come on. Don’t even say it.

“Any time you can get in the same sentence as guys like that, it’s cool.”

The Braves built a 3-0 lead after three innings, and in his final Miami game, Jones singled in the third to tie Lou Gehrig for 58th place on the career hits list with 2,721.

“Lou’s a big one — that’s the Iron Horse,” Jones said. “This was a big win for us, especially after last night [Braves’ 43, 10-inning loss to Miami on Tuesday]. That was a game we let get away.”

Craig Kimbrel collected his 38th save for the Braves, who got their 12th win in 17 games and trimmed their “magic number” to clinch a postseason berth to five. Any combination of five Braves wins and Dodgers losses assures the Braves of at least a wild-card slot.

They were still 5½ games behind Washington in the National League East standings, pending the outcome of the nightcap in the Nationals’ doubleheader with the Dodgers.

Medlen (9-1) improved to 8-0 with a 0.76 ERA in 10 starts since moving from the bullpen to the Braves’ rotation July 31. After winning the National League Pitcher of the Month award in August, he is 3-0 with an 0.90 ERA in four September starts, with 34 strikeouts and only four walks in 28 innings.

The 5-foot-11 California native is 13-0 in 24 starts since the beginning of the 2010 season and 14-0 with a 2.68 ERA in 26 starts dating to May 31, 2009, his third major league game.

The Braves have won 21 consecutive games started by the right-hander dating to 2009, his rookie season. The Yankees won 22 consecutive starts during 1950 and 1953 by Ford, who missed the two seasons in between while serving in the military.

Before Medlen, the Braves record was 15 consecutive wins in games started by John Smoltz in 1996.

Since moving from the bullpen to the rotation, Medlen allowed one or no runs in eight of nine starts before Wednesday and two runs in the other start. So after the Braves scored a run in each of the first three innings against the Marlins, they had to like their chances.

Marlins starter Josh Johnson (8-13) was charged with three runs, five hits and three walks in six innings. Johnson has a 3.01 ERA with nine quality starts in his past 11 games, but only a 3-6 record in that span.

Leadoff man Michael Bourn, batting .165 in his past 27 games before Wednesday, started the game with a double, and the Braves played textbook baseball to get him home. Martin Prado’s sacrifice bunt moved him