Jays make most of Braves’ mistakes

A messy eighth inning by the Atlanta Braves’ defence paved the way for the Blue Jays to open a two-game road series with a 6-2 win on Tuesday night at SunTrust Park.

The Braves made two errors in the game’s penultimate frame, which began tied at 1-1, putting leadoff man Yangervis Solarte on base with a fielding error by shortstop Dansby Swanson and advancing pinch runner Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to second with a catching error by first baseman Freddie Freeman.

Toronto’s Justin Smoak then popped out, but three straight singles from Randal Grichuk, Russell Martin and Kevin Pillar off reliever A.J. Minter gave the visitors a two-run cushion. Back-to-back doubles from Aledmys Diaz and Devon Travis then made it a five-run inning.

The five hits, four for RBIs, were the Jays’ first knocks since the third inning, when Smoak opened the scoring with a solo home run, his 13th of the season and fourth in the past 10 games.

They also signalled a late momentum shift in the visitors’ favour. The Braves had come up with one run, an RBI for catcher Kurt Suzuki, off six hits from the fourth to seventh inning, while the Jays were shut out by starter Julio Teheran and first reliever Jesse Biddle.

But Toronto made the young Atlanta team pay for their mistakes late; it was the third time the Braves have committed three errors in a game this season, and the first since late April.

It was perhaps an unfair result for Teheran, who surrendered one run, Smoak’s homer, over 62⁄ 3 innings.

But Toronto’s starter, Marcus Stroman, deserved the win after giving up just the one run to Suzuki through seven innings of work, walking two and striking out five.

It was Stroman’s second win and third quality start of the season, No. 2 since returning from injury on June 23. Both Stroman and Teheran came up with one hit at the plate: the Jays’ pitcher went 1-for-3 with a second-inning single to centre and Atlanta’s man went 1-for-2 with a fifth inning single to right.

Stroman was starting in place of Marco Estrada, who missed his scheduled outing thanks to a mild glute strain.

With a pair of off days on Thursday and Monday, the Jays, who are also currently without injured starters Aaron Sanchez (finger) and Jaime Garcia (shoulder), were able to move their rotation up a day and avoid adding a spot starter to the mix.

Estrada still hopes to make his next start, which is scheduled over the weekend against the Boston Red Sox.