Things go south for Biagini in Atlanta
Starter dinged for six runs before recording an out in first inning against Braves
ATLANTA— There are few first innings in Toronto Blue Jays history more forgettable than one Joe Biagini suffered through on Wednesday night.
The six runs Toronto’s interim starter allowed in the inning — which led to an 8-4 loss, the Jays’ third defeat in three days at the hands of the Atlanta Braves — all came before Biagini recorded his first out.
It was just the third time a Jays pitcher had allowed that many runs before retiring a batter in the first.
It was also six times the number of runs Biagini had allowed over his previous two starts for Toronto, and it proved too deep a hole for the Jays to dig out of in their first visit to the new SunTrust Park.
“We haven’t been able to stop this offence the last two games at all,” manager John Gibbons lamented prior to the game. The Jays have allowed 27 runs and 34 hits in the first three games against Atlanta.
Gibbons was hoping to increase Biagini’s pitch count from 68 to 80 on Wednesday, and suggested the righthander would be sufficiently stretched out after the outing. That was before Biagini used nearly half of his allotted pitched to get through Atlanta’s full lineup in the bottom of the first.
It all began with a single to left field from Ender Inciarte. Biagini had a chance to nab the centre-fielder at second base when the next batter, Brandon Phillips, connected softly, but the pitcher’s toss to Devon Travis was too high. Both were safe on the error.
A walk to Freddie Freeman loaded the bases, another to Matt Kemp opened the scoring, and a two-run single to left field by Nick Markakis made it 3-0. Then Kurt Suzuki hit a three-run homer to double that scoreline before Biagini finally recorded an out.
He needed 31pitches to get through the first and, while he settled down and didn’t allow another hit, he was gone after four innings, having thrown 67 pitches.
By then, Toronto was on the board. Jose Bautista doubled to lead off the fourth, before Justin Smoak’s teamleading ninth homer of the year cut Atlanta’s lead to four. And catcher Luke Maile scored on a wild pitch in the fifth. But the Jays never got closer.
The game grew testy as it wound down, with Gibbons out of the dugout on multiple occasions, first protesting an interference call against Ezequiel Carrera and then a doubleplay call against Travis.
The benches cleared for the first time in the seventh, when Kevin Pillar took exception to a quick pitch by reliever Jason Motte.
Asolo home run from Bautista elicited the same reaction an inning later; the outfielder flipped his bat as he took off for the bases, and had an exchange with Suzuki as he crossed home plate.
Neither incident amounted to more than added frustration for the Jays, who will head into Thursday looking to avoid a four-game sweep.
They will do so without shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who was expected to return before a decision to extend his rehab a day or two. Josh Donaldson’s projected return to action was also pushed back; Gibbons admitted to jumping the gun when he said Wednesday that the third baseman could return for this weekend’s series against Baltimore. For now, there is no definite return date for either Donaldson or catcher Russell Martin, out with nerve inflammation in his left shoulder.