On a night when Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez benched all three of his struggling boppers for the first time all season, their three replacements started a three-run rally in the sixth that didn’t stop until the Braves had run off with an 11-3 win over the Blue Jays.
Gonzalez had sat B.J. Upton, Dan Uggla and Jason Heyward and their sub .200 batting averages in favor of hotter-hitting bench counterparts. Evan Gattis, Ramiro Pena and Jordan Schafer responded by supplying eight of the Braves’ season-high 16 hits, and they drove in six of the Braves’ season-high 11 runs.
Pena went 3-for-4 with a career-high four RBIs, Gattis went 3-for-4 for his third three-hit game of the season, and Schafer went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
When asked if he’d been tempted to run the same lineup out Friday against the Nationals, Gonzalez said, “We’ll see.”
The Braves have invested more than $140 million in the players sitting beside him Thursday night, which makes Gonzalez’s decisions tougher than simply who’s got the higher batting average.
“There are some days that the guys sitting on the bench are maybe better than the guys sitting on the bench, or vice versa,” Gonzalez said. “You’ve got to take every opportunity. I’m sure that come the end of June, July or whatever it is, the guys that are supposed to be out there will be out there.”
Gattis, Pena and Schafer supplied three of the four hits in the sixth inning that put the Braves up 6-3 and atoned for a defensive lapse that cost Mike Minor three runs in the top of the inning. The Braves used an eight-run barrage from the sixth inning on to set the stage for rookie left-hander Alex Wood, who pitched a scoreless ninth in his major league debut.
“It still doesn’t seem real yet,” said Wood, who had attended more games at Turner Field on sorority date nights as a student at the University of Georgia than as a player.
Minor limited the Blue Jays to three runs (two earned) in seven strong innings to outduel reigning National League Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey. The Braves got 11 hits off the knuckleballer, including a home run by Freddie Freeman who learned a few things from Chipper Jones last year about how to handle his bobblehead night.
Freeman went 9-for-18 combined in the four games against Toronto with a triple and the home run. But he was quick to give credit to the players off the bench Thursday night and contributions they made.
“They came up huge,” Freeman said. “They’ve been doing it all year with a lot of us hurt and on the DL. Gattis again with three hits. And Pena three hits. Schafe. It’s been impressive to watch.”
Pena gave first baseman Edwin Encarnacion fits, singling past him for an infield hit to drive in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning. Then he came up with the bases loaded in the seventh, and watched all three runners score – on a passed ball and another grounder past Encarnacion.
“I really didn’t hit the best contact but I got the results, so I’ll take it,” said Pena, whose hardest-hit ball was caught at the right field wall by Jose Bautista.
Reed Johnson added a pinch hit two-run home run for good measure in the eighth inning, his first home run as a Brave.
“Every time they get a chance they keep showing why they’re here and that they deserve more chances,” Andrelton Simmons said of the bench players. “It’s good to see.”
Simmons, as sure-handed a shortstop as they come, committed his third error in the past seven games, after going 43 games without a miscue to start the season.
He took his eye off a Bautista grounder that could have ended the sixth inning on a double play. Instead his error opened the door for three Toronto runs as the Blue Jays tied the game 3-3 with run-scoring hits from Encarnacion and Mark DeRosa.
“The ball was in my pocket I just tried to throw it in my hand instead of taking it out, a split second too soon,” Simmons said.
The offense picked up both Simmons and Minor, who worked his sixth straight quality start and moved to 7-2 with a 2.48 ERA on the season.
“I thought Michael (Minor) was outstanding,” Gonzalez said. “We misplayed that double-play ball, but he held his composure. It gave us an opportunity to score some runs. He’s just been tremendous.”
