Bottom of the order boosts Braves to victory over Blue Jays

Led by great nights at the plate from Johan Camargo, Ender Inciarte, and Charlie Culberson, the Atlanta Braves traveled up to Toronto and picked up a commanding 11-4 victory over the Blue Jays.

Things got rolling early for the Braves as the second inning ended up being an omen of things to come when it came to the offense. Jaime Garcia got the first two batters out to start the second inning but then Kurt Suzuki hit a double to keep the inning alive. Garcia then walked the next two batters he faced, which brought Johan Camargo to the mound with the bases loaded.

Jaime Garcia left one hanging low in the zone and Camargo went ca-boom on it.

The Braves left the top of the second up 4-0 but their lead was cut to three in the bottom half of the frame after Mike Soroka got into some trouble. A leadoff double eventually led to the runner being moved to third base and eventually scoring via groundout. Soroka did a good job to limit the damage in that inning to just one run, which would become a trend during his 4.2 innings on the mound tonight.

Fortunately for Soroka, the defense behind him was solid (as you’ll see in the clip below) and his offense lifted him up in a big way as they just kept on hitting and producing as the game progressed. They didn’t score in the third inning but Charlie Culberson rectified that situation with a solo shot to make it 5-1 at that point. It was only four innings into the game but Culberson was already having himself a lovely night.

Toronto responded with another run in the fourth inning but once again, Soroka did just enough to limit the damage to just a run. That ended up being crucial since the Braves offense continued to mash Toronto’s pitching. By the time the fifth inning rolled around, Jaime Garcia had already been chased from the game and it was up to Danny Barnes to keep Atlanta at bay. He did not succeed, as Ender Inciarte hit a double to put two more runs on the board and then Johan Camargo showed up once again and he hit a single to make it 8-2 Braves at that point.

Mike Soroka’s night ended in the bottom of the fifth after the Blue Jays eventually scored a couple of runs thanks to a ground rule double from Yangveris Solarte to make it 8-4. Peter Moylan was called upon to get the final out of the fifth inning and not only did he do that, he got the first two outs of the sixth inning as well. Sam Freeman entered to get the final out of that frame, which was Atlanta’s first 1-2-3 inning of the game.

Both teams got into a mini-pitching groove for the sixth and seventh innings but the Braves resumed scoring in the eighth inning. Johan Camargo hit a double and then Ozzie Albies added a double of his own to make it 9-4. The ninth inning was just icing on this beautiful cake of offense, as Inciarte and Dansby Swanson both delivered RBI doubles to stretch Atlanta’s lead to seven runs over Toronto. Camargo had a chance for a cycle but he mercifully struck out and Toronto’s pain eventually came to an end.

As expected, the Braves were able to take advantage of Jaime Garcia’s tendencies to give up more fly balls than ground balls and the biggest beneficiary was the bottom of the lineup. With Johan Camargo leading the way, they did most of the damage for the Braves as they picked up their 43rd victory of the season on what was a beautiful night in Toronto in more ways than one.