Things didn’t look good for the Braves after they scored three runs in the first inning Tuesday only to have Paul Maholm and a shaky defense give up four runs in the Blue Jays’ half of the inning.
There was more concern in the fourth, when Jose Bautista crushed Maholm’s 62-mph eephus curveball for a 5-4 Toronto lead, to the delight of many thousands of school kids in an afternoon crowd of 45,224 at Rogers Centre.
But if the Braves have shown anything in this eventful young season, it’s a power-laden lineup that can produce strikeouts and home runs at a dizzying pace. They went long ball Tuesday.
Evan Gattis and Brian McCann hit consecutive homers to start the sixth inning, turning a deficit to a one-run lead. After the Blue Jays tied the score again in the seventh, McCann homered once more to start the 10th inning, lifting the Braves to a 7-6 win for a two-game series split.
“Pauly really settled down there and put up zeroes and kept us in the ballgame, and we were able to get a couple of hits towards the end,” said McCann, who shifted to designated hitter Tuesday and more than lived up to the job title with his fifth and sixth homers in 16 games since starting the season on the disabled list.
Freddie Freeman had three hits, rookie phenom Gattis hit his 12th homer, and McCann had his ninth career multi-homer game for the Braves, who finished a 3-2 trip and face the Blue Jays again in two games Wednesday and Thursday at Turner Field.
“That middle of the lineup — those big three with Freeman, Gattis and Mac — did a hell of a job for us,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Kept us in the game with those home runs, and got us ahead a few times. Too bad we’re not in the American League. We’ve got to go back and play National League (rules), but it’s nice to have those three all in the lineup at one time.”
Maholm weathered the storm for six innings, and rookie Cory Gearrin (2-1) bounced back after blowing a late lead Sunday at New York to pitch a perfect ninth inning against the formidable heart of Toronto’s lineup. Craig Kimbrel worked around a leadoff walk in the 10th for his 16th save, with help from Reed Johnson on a running catch in shallow left field.
In the first inning, the Braves botched a potential double play and had a bloop land for a double in right field between Dan Uggla and Jason Heyward. The Blue Jays capitalized: Edwin Encarnacion hit a run-scoring double off the wall, former Brave Mark DeRosa had a two-run double, and Colby Rasmus singled for a 4-3 lead.
Given the injury-weakened Braves bullpen, Maholm knew the importance of sticking around.
“Obviously I wish the first inning would have gone differently, just because we put up three in the first,” the left-hander said. “But I was just going to go out and try to make an adjustment, make my pitches and get some ground balls, and let the guys make some plays. You could tell after the first inning that both teams were going to score some runs.”
Jordan Schafer, batting leadoff, had a first-inning double and a second-inning homer for the Braves, who lead the National League in homers and strikeouts. McCann thinks too many people focus on just the strikeouts.
“That’s what everybody wants to talk about,” he said. “But we’re sitting there in first place (near) June. It’s the way we’re built — we hit a lot of home runs, and we’re going to strike out. But you put up seven runs? Nothing bad about that at all.”
In the ninth, Gearrin coaxed a ground out, pop-up and fly ball from Bautista, Encarnacion and J.P. Arencibia.
“After that last game, as an athlete and a competitor you want to get back out there,” said the rookie, who gave up three runs in the eighth inning of a 4-2 loss Sunday. “I want to help my team win. That’s why we’re here. So it’s exciting to go out and be in the situation to help us keep it close and allow Mac to do what he did.”
