The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Jays sweep Braves to cap off winning road trip
Ten games against three teams in three different time zones and the Blue Jays find themselves four games above .500 for the first time this season.
They return to their home away from home in Dunedin, Fla., for the final time in the wake of an 8-4 Thursday matinee win against the host Atlanta Braves, who were swept for the second time this season by the Jays.
Toronto went 6-4 during its road swing, which began in Oakland before heading to Houston and finally landing in Dixie.
The Jays were good and bad and at times indifferent.
Resilient and persistent, the Jays came back from an early hole Thursday, took the lead before relinquishing it and then tying the game in the eighth inning in one those classic back and forth, tit for tat day at the ballpark.
They would win it in the ninth when Bo Bichette once again showed his late-game flair for the dramatic by driving in two runs as the Jays went wild at the plate in their final at-bats.
It was Toronto’s 10th comeback win of the season, the latest produced with no homers launched.
Ross Stripling survived a rocky first inning, settled in quite nicely and by the time the starting right-hander departed the Jays had taken a one-run lead.
Nine strikeouts over five innings for Stripling, who was on the ropes when he began the day by giving up a home run to the first batter he faced.
As poorly as Stripling began his outing, he ended it in a flurry.
Stripling yielded a home run to Braves lead-off hitter Ronald Acuna Jr., who launched his 12th long ball of the season.
It didn’t get any better as Atlanta was poised to send Stripling to an early shower.
All told, the Braves would score two, but the damage could have been much worse in that one inning considering four of Atlanta’s first five hitters reached base.
The Jays would produce a run in the top half of the second to cut the lead in half, a run that seemed to do wonders for Stripling, who suddenly began to mow down the Braves.