Lowly Braves bring lumber up north, halt Blue Jays’ five-game winning streak
10 runs the most Toronto has allowed in 2017
The Atlanta Braves came f or a game and i nstead enjoyed batting practice deep into Monday night at Rogers Centre.
In the process, the Blue Jays’ f i ve- game winning streak came to a thudding halt, as Toronto lost 10- 6 to fall five games below .500.
The 10 runs allowed were one off the most the Jays have given up in one game this season. Atlanta also rapped out 13 hits, and Toronto pitchers hit a total of five Braves batters, setting a team record for most in one game.
Jays starter Mike Bolsinger f ailed t o make it through five innings, and Toronto’s bats couldn’t pick him up.
Any suspicion that the Jays might mount a rally died in the sixth i nning when the Braves scored four runs, highlighted by a threerun home run by Freddie Freeman off reliever Leonel Campos.
Justin Smoak hit a tworun home run in the ninth off Braves reliever Josh Collmenter.
Toronto, which plays host to Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon before the clubs head south to play another twogame set at the new Sun- Trust Park, fell to 17-22. The lowly Braves improved their record to 14-21.
Bolsinger, making his second start of the season, got two outs in the fifth before being pulled in favour of reliever J.P. Howell.
To put it mildly, Bolsinger (0-2) had a night to forget.
By t he t i me Bolsinger exited the game, the Braves had a 6- 2 lead ( including five runs earned), and had touched him for eight hits. Bolsinger, a part of the rotation with J. A. Happ and Francisco Liriano nursing injuries, walked two and hit three batters. Bolsinger also recorded three strikeouts.
Atlanta scored two runs with two out to finish off Bolsinger. A Nick Markakis single scored Matt Kemp, who had doubled. Two batters later, Adonis Garcia’s single cashed in Markakis.
Howell then entered the game and got Jace Peterson to ground out. The Jays got one run back in their half of the fifth when Jose Bautista’s double scored Kevin Pillar.
The Jays didn’t give the crowd of 29,766 much to cheer about t hroughout the evening. That changed briefly in the fourth inning when catcher Mike Ohlman, playing in his second game in the majors, recorded his first RBI. Ohlman’s single with two out scored Devon Travis, which drew the expected gracious applause.
Travis had three hits, including two doubles. That’s 11 doubles in the past 15 games for Travis.
The Braves built a 3- 0 lead in the first two innings thanks to some shoddy defence on the part of the Jays, though Toronto was able to get one run back in the bottom of the second.
Of course, it wasn’t as though Bolsinger was working his way through a gem on the mound.
The Jays’ first run came courtesy of Travis’ f i rst double, a stroke to centre field over the head of Ender Inciarte that brought home Smoak, who also had doubled off Braves starter Bartolo Colon ( 2- 4). Colon pitched five innings, scattering seven hits.
In the seventh, another Travis double scored Kendrys Morales.
Atlanta scored two runs in the top of the first.
Bolsinger hit Brandon Phillips — the first of three batters hit by a Bolsinger pitch in the first four innings — on an 0-2 count.
Two batters later, Kemp singled to left and advanced to second on an errant throw by Ezequiel Carrera. Freeman, who was on first, made it to third base on the play.
Next up was Markakis, who singled, scoring Freeman and Kemp.
Bolsinger hit Garcia to lead off the second and Garcia eventually came around to score the Braves’ third run.
The Jays helped. Garcia stole second and scampered to t hird when Ohlman’s throw skittered into the outfield. Dansby Swanson flied out to a charging Pillar, who threw a bullet to home after Garcia tagged up.
Ohlman appeared to get the throw in time, but a sliding Garcia beat the attempt, getting his hand on t he plate before Ohlman could apply the tag.
Garcia scored again in the top of the fourth, coming home when Swanson singled to right. Swanson tried to stretch the hit into a double, but was thrown out by Bautista.