Outburst ends run drought
Season high 18 hits lead to 12-4 win over Atlanta Braves
ATLANTA — After watching the Blue Jays score a combined five runs in two losses to the Braves, John Farrell fretted about his team’s inability to “bunch some hits together.”
The Blue Jays came through with an impressive solution in the final game of the series.
Brett Lawrie and Colby Rasmus each homered and drove in three runs and Toronto rallied from an early four-run deficit to beat Atlanta 12-4 on Sunday.
The Blue Jays set a season high with 18 hits as they ended a threegame losing streak. The offensive outburst, which started with a sixrun fifth inning, came after Toronto was held to one hit in four scoreless innings by Braves rookie Julio Teheran.
“The way things started out, it wasn’t looking real promising,” Farrell said. “We were able to string a number of hits together. . . . We were able to string together not only the six runs but it continued on through the middle and latter part of the game.”
The Braves’ six-game winning streak ended even though they led 4-0 after three innings. Blue Jays left-hander Ricky Romero lasted only four innings.
A key to the Blue Jays’ six-run fifth was Farrell’s decision to replace Romero with pinch-hitter Yan Gomes, whose single drove in the first run. It was the first of five straight run-scoring hits.
Farrell said Gomes’ hit “seemed to open the flood gates a little bit.”
Toronto’s big fifth inning came against the 21-year-old Teheran, who was called up for his first start of the season, and 37-yearold Livan Hernandez.
Teheran gave up four hits and four runs in 4 1/3 innings.
“I got a little bit too excited because I wanted to win the game,” Teheran said. “I got a little out of control.
“I’ll try to be better for the next one.”
Teheran, the Braves’ top prospect, was called up from TripleA Gwinnett to fill in for Tim Hudson, who has bone spurs in his left ankle. Teheran allowed only one hit, Edwin Encarnacion’s brokenbat single, through four scoreless innings before wilting in the fifth.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said Teheran was told this would be a one-game visit to Atlanta, no matter how he fared.
Lawrie hit a two-run homer and Rasmus added a homer off hernandez as Toronto added three runs in the sixth. Carlos Villanueva (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings.
Hernandez (1-1) gave up five runs on seven hits, including two homers, in 1 2/3 innings. Hernandez has allowed nine earned runs on 13 hits in 4 2/3 innings in his last two appearances.
Gonzalez said the loss “might be the ugliest game we’ve played in a long time.”