Braves beat Blue Jays, lose Freeman in process

The Atlanta Braves put up six runs in the opening frame and held on for an 8-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at SunTrust Park on Wednesday for their third consecutive win.

However, the win was overshadowed by Freddie Freeman’s wrist injury that occurred in the bottom of the fifth inning. Batting with a runner on second and one out in a 6-3 game, Freeman look a pitch off of his left wrist and was immediately examined by trainer Jim Lovell before exiting the game. Freeman entered Wednesday slashing .343/.457/.754 with 204 wRC+ and was tied with Aaron Judge for the most home runs in Major League Baseball (14).

Shortly following the game, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman provided an update on Freeman’s injury:

Continue to follow us as we at Talking Chop will provide updates on the further tests as soon as results are made available.

Mike Foltynewicz made the start on the bump for Atlanta and allowed three runs on six hits and recorded just one strikeout along with one issued walk.

Toronto’s Joe Biagini had an interesting night in his third start of the season. Despite pitching a perfect second, third, and fourth inning, his final line was as follows: 4 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 3 SO.

As can be depicted by looking at Biagini’s line, Atlanta’s offense was scorching hot in the early going. The Braves put up six runs in the bottom of the first inning before Toronto could record its first out.

Ender Inciarte led off the bottom of the first with a single to left field. Brandon Phillips followed by reaching on a throwing error. Biagini then issued back-to-back walks to Freeman and Matt Kemp to bring Inciarte in for the first run of the game. Nick Markakis then hit a long single to the corner in left field, scoring Phillips and Freeman to put the Braves up 3-0. In the ensuing at-bat, Kurt Suzuki launched a three-run shot to left to extend Atlanta’s lead to 6-0.

Toronto threatened to score in the top of the third inning as Luke Maile reached on a Dansby Swanson fielding error and advanced to third via a sacrifice bunt and ground out before being stranded due to Ezequiel Carrera lining out to first.

Jose Bautista led off the top of the fourth inning with a double to center and was driven in on Justin Smoak’s two-run home run, cutting Toronto’s deficit to 6-2.

In the top of the fifth inning, Maile led things off with a bloop single that fell between Kemp and Swanson. He proceeded to advance to second and third due to a pair of ground outs before scoring on a Foltynewicz wild pitch to bring the Blue Jays within 6-3.

The Braves added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning as Kurt Suzuki doubled and later scored on Emilio Bonifacio’s sacrifice fly. One batter later, Inciarte singled to right to score Jace Peterson and extend Atlanta’s advantage to 8-3.

Things got slightly chippy in the top of the eighth inning after Bautista flipped his bat following a solo home run that brought the score to 8-4. The bat flip, as well as some chirping both both sides as he rounded the bases, resulted in the benches clearing.

The benches cleared twice in the game, but no punches were thrown as it appeared there were only words exchanged between the teams.

Despite the devastating injury to Freeman, tonight’s win coupled with the Mets losing to the Diamondbacks earlier today gives Atlanta sole ownership of second place in the National League East.

Julio Teheran will be on the mound for the Braves in the series finale tomorrow night as he takes on Marcus Stroman at 7:35 pm ET.