‘We’re one whole group’: Atlanta Braves beat Blue Jays 7-3, remain the best team in Major League Baseball
The Atlanta Braves defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 7-2 on Wednesday, with Grant Holmes pitching six innings and Mauricio Dubon hitting a three-run home run, while the bullpen of Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez, and Tyler Kinley pitched in relief to secure the win. The post ‘We’re one whole group’: Atlanta Braves beat Blue Jays 7-3, remain the best team in Major League Baseball appeared first on The Atlanta Voice.
Black News 
Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves defeated the Toronto Blue Jays for a consecutive night following a 7-2 victory. The win was a good example of what the Braves’ lineup can do on any given night, and Drake Baldwin is still out of the lineup.
Braves pitcher Grant Holmes gave up a pair of singles and a walk to begin the game before getting out of trouble by generating a double play. He didn’t leave the first without Toronto scoring a run and taking a 1-0 lead, however.
Ha-Seong Kim was back in the lineup after getting a night off Tuesday. With Eli White on second base following a stolen base, Kim picked up a long-awaited RBi with a single to left field. The RBI was the third of the season for Kim, who is now batting just over .100.
Holmes came into the game with an ERA of 3.95, but won his last start in Cincinnati despite giving up seven hits, two home runs, and three earned runs. On Wednesday, he gave up his third earned run of the game in the third inning following a solo home run by Toronto left fielder Nathan Lukes, who had two hits during Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to the Braves.
There have been several games this season when the Braves faced a deficit of a run or two, and for the majority of those games, Atlanta has found a way to find those runs before nine innings were done. A lineup with Ronald Acuna, Jr., Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies, and Matt Olson can surely find a way. How about Mauricio Dubon? The utility player and newcomer-extraordinaire hit a three-run home run to right-center field to give the Braves a 4-2 lead. The 405-foot home run was Dubon’s fourth of the season and was just another example of why Braves manager Walt Weiss can’t find a reason to keep Dubon out of the lineup too many times. Dubon got a pinch-hit at-bat last night.
On his first season in Atlanta and how things are going, Dubon said he didn’t know what to expect from a team with established superstars like Acuna, Jr., Olson, and Albies, but it has been fun.
“We’re one whole group,” he said.
The defense behind Holmes was stellar. Austin Riley may be in the midst of a slump at the plate, but he dug out a couple of shots to third to keep Blue Jays hitters off base. Harris II, arguably the best defensive center fielder in baseball, covered a ton of ground during the game and made several tough put-outs to end innings.
Holmes was done after six innings, three earned runs, and three strikeouts. His final three innings of work, however, were superb as he failed to give up a hit or a run during that span.
Ahead 4-2 in the seventh, the Braves had an opportunity to add to their lead in the seventh inning. Albies was at the plate with Olson and Dom Smith on base when he hit his 10th home run of the season to put Atlanta up 7-2.
Dylan Lee (in the seventh inning), Robert Suarez (eighth inning), and Tyler Kinley (in the ninth) pitched in relief for the Braves tonight. The Atlanta bullpen has been one of the top three reasons the team has been so good this season, along with the play of newcomers like Smith and Dubon and Weiss’s decision-making.
Kinley gave up a solo home run to Toronto catcher Brandon Valenzuela in the ninth, but struck out Andres Gimenez and Yohendrick Pinango to end the game.
The Braves and Blue Jays will play the third game of the series on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.
The post ‘We’re one whole group’: Atlanta Braves beat Blue Jays 7-3, remain the best team in Major League Baseball appeared first on The Atlanta Voice.
