Blue Jays Rout Braves 12-4 In Series Finale

For the first four innings on Sunday, it looked as if Atlanta was headed to its seventh-straight victory and a sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays.

However, a rough fifth inning and some ill-timed batting practice thrown by Livan Hernandez ended those chances, as the Braves fell 12-4 to Toronto.

Things started well for the Atlanta offense in the second against Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero. Dan Uggla was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and advanced to third on a double to right from Matt Diaz. Freddie Freeman followed with a shallow pop up to center that Colby Rasmus caught, but dropped on the transfer, allowing Uggla to score.

David Ross got another run across with a single to center one batter later. Atlanta left the frame with a 2-0 lead.

With runners on first and third in the third inning after a Michael Bourn double and Prado bunt single, Chipper grounded into a double play. That allowed Bourn to come in and score, making it a 3-0 game. Back-to-back singles from Uggla and Diaz followed, and Freeman tallied a single of his own, scoring Uggla to up Atlanta's lead to 4-0.

Julio Teheran was fantastic through four innings, allowing only one hit while striking out four. The fifth inning didn't start out so well for him, however.

Kelly Johnson singled to start, and moved up to second on a walked to Yunel Escobar. Teheran rallied to strikeout David Cooper, but J.P. Arencibia singled to center, loading the bases. Yan Gomes pinch hit for Romero, and even though Teheran located his breaking ball where he wanted, Gomes punched it into left for a single, bringing home the Blue Jays first run.

With that, Fredi Gonzalez decided to make the call to the bullpen, bringing in Livan Hernandez. Three singles and a double later, Toronto had put up six runs in the fifth, and took a 6-4 lead.

Teheran's final line of 4.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, and 5 K's doesn't show how good he pitched. He showed great composure, doing a nice job of mixing his pitches. His breaking ball was fantastic, and he located his fastball very well for the most part.

The hook on him in the fifth was way too fast, as it looked like Teheran was gaining control back and his stuff was certainly still better than Livan's.

Hernandez trotted back out for the sixth, and continued to get hit hard. Reliever Carlos Villanueva singled, and scored on a Brett Lawrie home run to left field, making it an 8-4 game. Next up was Rasmus, and he homered as well, launching his eighth of the year to right field as boo birds rained down on Hernandez.

The final line on Livan was 1.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 2 K. He had absolutely nothing on the mound today.

Toronto added two more in the seventh and one final run in the eighth against Cristhian Martinez, arriving at the final score of 12-4.