Moments after Jonny Gomes scorched a bases-loaded line drive in the first inning Sunday, Blue Jays center fielder Dalton Pompey knew he was in trouble. And the Braves were off to the races.
Gomes’ hit sailed over Pompey for a double that left the center fielder flailing, doing a reverse somersault as one, two, three Braves crossed the plate, all the run support Shelby Miller and the bullpen would need in a 5-2 win that clinched an interleague series at Rogers Centre.
“I knew I hit it pretty well,” said Gomes, who added a sacrifice fly in a two-run third that pushed the Braves’ lead to 5-0 on the way to their eighth win in 12 games, including two of three against the Blue Jays.
“We lose that game because I don’t make that play and I take full responsibility for that,” Pompey said. “The ball was hit, I went back. It was hit pretty hard. I kind of stopped for a second, broke back and the ball started to slice back to my reverse side. And I couldn’t make the adjustment in time.”
There would be no revenge for Pompey, who made a throwing error on Chris Johnson’s single in the third inning that allowed Freddie Freeman to score and Johnson to reach third. From there, Gomes drove him in for his fourth RBI.
Miller (2-0) took a shutout into the sixth inning and the Braves rebounded from a couple of rough bullpen outings with three dominant innings from the trio of rookies Andrew McKirahan and Cody Martin and closer Jason Grilli, who had two strikeouts in a perfect ninth inning for his sixth save.
The second-place Braves are off Monday before continuing a nine-game trip with a three-game series against the National League East-leading Mets.
“It’s a long time on the road,” said Miller, who gave up five hits, two runs and three walks with six strikeouts in six innings. “To come into Toronto against a team that hits good at home, a team that’s confident in the box at home, we’ll take (a series win). We kind of felt like we gave them a game yesterday, but … we’ll take two out of three.”
Miller threw a three-hit shutout at Toronto in June for the Cardinals in his only previous start against the Blue Jays. His streak of consecutive scoreless innings against them ended when he gave up a two-run, two-out double to Russell Martin in the sixth.
Gonzalez left him in to face Kevin Pillar, who represented the potential tying run. Pillar flied out, and the only Blue Jay to reach base the rest of the way came via a two-out walk in the eighth.
The second-place Braves have won three of four series and five of six road games. They might spend part of their day off reflecting on the good start, but Grilli, tied for the major league saves lead with the Mets’ Jeurys Familia, won’t dwell on one that got away Saturday.
In that loss, setup man Jim Johnson surrendered a two-run homer in the eighth and rookie Sugar Ray Marimon gave up a walk-off homer in the 10th.
“Always turn the page,” said Grilli, one of the veteran newcomers who’ve emerged as team leaders. “Yesterday’s gone, and I’m just glad these guys, they’re not scared. They’re relishing the challenge and taking the ball when it’s given to them. We’re talking about baseball down there (in the bullpen), we’re in every pitch. And they’re learning quick.
“We’re off to a great start. It’s coming together real nice right now.”
After their offseason revamp, the Braves said before the season that they would need to pitch well, avoid mistakes and do a better job with situational hitting if they were to reach their goals this season. Through the first two weeks of the season they’ve done those things more often than not, including Sunday.
They turned two more double plays to raise their majors-leading total to 21. They played mistake-free defense to keep their majors-low total at one error in 12 games. They also kept Blue Jays hitters in the park for the first time after watching them pound seven homers in the first two games.
“They can swing the bat,” said Chris Johnson, who walked to load the bases before the Gomes double. “They’re a good ballclub. But we tried to just play our game. We hit some home runs. But for the most part, we’re going to try to win ballgames like we did today, just getting guys on base and coming up with timely hitting when we do.”
Toronto left-hander Daniel Norris, an elite prospect in his third start, gave up a leadoff single to Cameron Maybin in the first inning. He struck out Albert Callaspo and Maybin was out stealing on the play. But Norris could barely catch his breath before 3 hitter Markakis singled with two outs. Markakis, batting .375, went 7-for-10 with four walks in the series.
Freeman followed with a double and Johnson walked to fill the bases for Gomes, who cleared them.
