Braves win 8-7 against Blue Jays
TORONTO — Pinch- hitter Jonny Gomes had a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning, Freddie Freeman added a tworun shot and the Atlanta Braves beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-7 on Friday night.
Nick Markakis went 4- for4 and scored three runs as the Braves won for the third time in their last 11 interleague road games.
Batting for Cameron Maybin, Gomes opened the eighth with a drive to center field off Blue Jays left-hander Brett Cecil (0-1). It was Gomes’ 10th career pinchhit homer, the most among active major league players.
Two outs later, Markakis singled and Freeman followed with a second-deck home run, his third.
Cody Martin ( 1- 0) worked one inning for the win, Jim Johnson gave up two runs in the eighth and Jason Grilli finished for his fifth save.
Toronto hit five home runs, including four off Braves starter Julio Teheran, but still lost for the fourth time in five games. Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin each hit two homers, while rookie Devon Travis also connected.
Making his first start in the leadoff spot in place of the injured Jose Reyes, Travis put the Blue Jays on top with a homer in the first, his third. Travis is the first Blue Jays rookie to hit a leadoff homer since Russ Adams did it against the Yankees on Aug. 22, 2004.
Atlanta tied it in the second on Eric Young’s two-out single, then took the lead on A.J. Pierzynski’s RBI single in the third.
Martin tied it in the bottom half with his first homer of the season, snapping an 0- for- 22 slump. He went deep again to begin the eighth, giving him his ninth career multihomer game.
Donaldson hit a two- run homer in the third, his first for Toronto, to put the Blue Jays up 4-2, but Atlanta reclaimed the lead with a two-out rally in the fifth. Andrelton Simmons chased Drew Hutchison with a two-run double and Jace Peterson greeted Roberto Osuna with a tiebreaking triple.
Donaldson connected again in the bottom of the fifth to tie it 5-all. It was the fourth multihomer game of his career.
Reyes has a cracked rib on his left side and will miss this weekend’s series against Atlanta. Reyes won’t play again until at least Tuesday against Baltimore. Toronto is off Monday.
Braves left- hander Alex Wood (1-0) faces Blue Jays righty knuckeballer R.A. Dickey (0-1) in this afternoon’s pitching matchup. Dickey issued five walks in his previous start, the most he’d allowed since April 17, 2014, at Minnesota.