With a pitching matchup that favors the Blue Jays on paper, even with Bryce Elder’s solid performance this season, the Braves got off to a dream start in the first, with a Ronald Acuna turning into a run with a Michael Harris double.
Harris came around on a groundout and a sac fly for a 2-0 lead going into the second. They needed those runs, as the Blue Jays came right back with a two run homer in the second, evening things back up.
The Atlanta offense managed a Yaztrzemski gapped double, but the back of the order couldn’t bring him around in the second, though they did turn the lineup over for the third inning. Bryce worked a clean inning and a Matt Olson two-out double converted, as an Ozzie single brought him home for a 3-2 lead.
After a couple clean frames, the Blue Jays came back in the fifth with a single, double, and a sac fly to bring the game level at 3. That didn’t last for long, as Matt Olson got under one for a 109.8 MPH fly ball at 49 degrees that was carried into the Chop House by wind for a go-ahead solo home run. 4-3 Braves.
Bryce Elder carried the game into the seventh and recorded two outs before being replaced by Robert Suarez, with Walt Weiss clearly hoping to make that one run lead stick. Suarez did his job, recording a strikeout to end the seventh, and another to end the eighth, after a quiet seventh from the Atlanta offense.
Raisel made things a bit hairy in the ninth, as he allowed two singles, but a strikeout and two pop-ups closed out his 29th straight save and another win for the Braves. That puts Atlanta at 41-20 on the year and in a great position to take another series win at home, having beaten Gausman, facing Patrick Corbin tomorrow, and with Chris Sale on the mound Thursday. This was a coin-flip game, but Bryce Elder, Robert Suarez, and Raisel Iglesias were able to stop the coin with the Braves’ side up once Matt Olson hit that homer.
Join us tomorrow as Grant Holmes takes the mound with a relatively fresh bullpen against Patrick Corbin for Toronto.
