DOWN IN DIXIE
Mark Buehrle makes return to the mound, but Jays bullpen gives up winning run in ninth against lowly Braves.
ATLANTA— This was Mark Buehrle’s comeback start, or at least it was his left shoulder’s comeback start. The veteran left-hander was making his first appearance in eight days, after he returned home to Toronto after being shelled in Boston last Monday to receive a cortisone shot for his inflamed left shoulder. And after his outing against the Atlanta Braves, there still must be cause for concern about Buehrle pitching deep into October.
The Braves won 3-2 in dramatic walkoff fashion. They entered the game having lost 12 straight home games at Turner Field. The losing skid was reflected in the attendance, with a large percentage of fans wearing blue and cheering for the Blue Jays. Overall, Atlanta had lost 24 of its last 27 games and 39 of 50. The Jays had not lost two games in a row in a month, since Aug. 14-15.
“The bottom line is we win when we score; we didn’t score enough tonight,” manager John Gibbons said. “You look at the (Braves), they’ve made some moves, so it’s a veteran-laden team. Some guys that we’ve known from the American League, some guys that have been tough on us. A big-league team’s a big-league team.
“I know they’ve had their struggles, but they were playing good baseball up to the break when they were about .500. That’s just the way it goes.”
Gibbons had LaTroy Hawkins, Drew Hutchison, Liam Hendriks and six other uniformed relievers still available late in the game, but he allowed his setup man, Aaron Sanchez, to pitch two innings. After shutting down the Braves in the eighth, Sanchez, in the ninth, allowed the walk-off run on a single through a drawn in infield by shortstop Andrelton Simmons. The Jays are now 4-4 on the road trip with two games remaining.
“It’s something I hadn’t done in a while, so it’s just something I have to get used to doing,” Sanchez said of the multiple innings. “I felt fine out there, just a couple of hits here and there and a tie game going into the last inning, we don’t get to bat again, it’s tough.
“It is what it is. You move on and go get them tomorrow. Regardless (of what I was expecting), I’m out there until they take the ball from my hand. Sometimes baseball doesn’t go your way. Strap it up tomorrow and go get ’em.”
Braves third baseman Adonis Garcia led off the ninth with a single, followed by another hit by A.J. Pierzynski putting runners at the corners. Sanchez retired Cameron Maybin on a grounder, but Simmons followed with the winning hit on a grounder to right. Gibbons said he did not consider walking Simmons with the groundball producing Sanchez on the mound.
The Jays are 0-2 since the injury to Troy Tulowitzki and have scored two runs in those two games. They are 10-52 when scoring four or less.
Buehrle had managed to weave his way through five innings, on a bluecollar, 66-pitch effort that included six hits, two runs, one of them unearned, a walk and two strikeouts. He allowed the Braves a .333 average, but managed to produce three double plays. The last time that Buehrle pitched into the seventh inning of any start was Aug. 13, just over a month ago.
“I felt good, I think it’s all it pretty much comes down to,” a terse Buehrle said. “I got into a couple of jams, guys got on base. I felt like I made some good pitches, they were putting the ball in play. A couple of groundballs through the infield and that’s it. The best, the biggest thing I take away from it was I felt better than I had in my last few starts.”
The Jays took the lead in the second on a two-out, looping single to right field by second baseman Cliff Pennington that scored Justin Smoak from second base.
The Braves tied it up in the second and took the lead in the third, thanks to an error by Smoak on a hard groundball by Freddie Freeman.
Braves right-hander Julio Teheran struggled with his pitch count and with his splits against left-handers. Leading off the sixth, Smoak homered just over the left field fence for his 15th homer. That tied the game 2-2. Four batters later, Teheran was gone, having thrown 113 pitches in 52⁄ innings.
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