Braves win ‘draining’ extra-innings battle with Blue Jays to take series

The Braves won an 11-inning thriller Sunday, 4-3, over the Blue Jays to earn a series win.

Here are five takeaways from Sunday:

1. After squandering their chance by leaving the bases loaded in the 10th, the Braves scored twice in the 11th to win it. Eli White, typically an outfielder who was handling second base for the fourth time in the majors, reached on a bunt hit. Blue Jays third baseman Addison Barger delivered an errant throw on an Adam Duvall grounder that scored pinch-runner Michael Harris II.

After first baseman Matt Olson was intentionally walked, then came catcher Sean Murphy, who hit a grounder that allowed the speedy White to score.

“It was awesome,” White said. “Growing up an infielder, it was cool to be out there on the dirt on a big-league field. It was cool to be able to come in and help the team in that situation. To be able to do that and get the win there was fun.”

White, who entered in the seventh and shifted from right field to second in the ninth, had been doing infield work with the team increasingly shorthanded there due to injuries. As he said, he’d played infield coming up but had appeared in just three games at second – all with the Rangers in 2021 – before the Braves trusted him in that spot Sunday.

“When he knew there was a possibility he might end up there, he was out there taking groundballs,” Murphy said. “I trust him out there. I watched him play shortstop in the minor leagues when we came up together, so I knew he could handle it. It was fun to see him back out there in the infield.”

2. The Braves are going to ride Chris Sale as far as he can take them. Sale’s latest statement for the Cy Young award: He allowed two hits over six scoreless innings, striking out seven and walking one. Sale threw 113 pitches, ending his outing by winning an 11-pitch battle with Leo Jimenez to leave a Blue Jay stranded at second. Sale hadn’t thrown that many pitches in an outing since July 2019.

“Chris, again, when this season is over, if they (analyze) his individual games, he had no margin for error in a lot of them,” manager Brian Snitker said. “And how he just does what he does is amazing to me.”

3. Sale is the clear frontrunner for the National League Cy Young award. And the Braves’ closer has been magnificent, too. Raisel Iglesias pitched both the extra innings, surrendering one unearned run (the ghost runner). Braves pitching has carried them throughout the season, and Sale and Iglesias have been at the forefront.

Sale is on the doorstep of his first Cy Young. He leads the NL with a 2.38 ERA, 16 wins and 213 strikeouts. But he’s always made it clear individual accolades are secondary to the team’s goals.

“I’d like to be in line to win the World Series, that’s about it,” he said. “This time of year, we just need to win games. That’s it. Whatever it is we’re called upon to do. If that’s 113 pitches or (Iglesias) coming in for multiple innings as a closer, that’s what we sign on the dotted line for. That’s what we’re ready to do.”

4. While White’s speed deserves the credit for the winning run, it was a nice moment for Murphy, who’s endured a difficult season due to injury and disappointing on-field performance.

“I’m just happy we won,” the always matter-of-fact Murphy said. “I got the hit at the end, I guess, but that’s all on the pitching. They carried us all the way through and I’m just glad we got that last one.”

Outfielder Jarred Kelenic, who’s likewise battled through an up-and-down season, launched his second homer of the homestand after going deep just once in August. His 15 homers are a career best.

The Braves’ offense provided little else outside the game-ending theatrics; this is just how this club is going to have to win games. It’s rarely going to be worthy of style points.

5. The Braves capitalized on the Mets finally losing. New York’s nine-game winning streak ended against Cincinnati, so the Braves will enter Monday tied for the third and final wild-card spot with 19 games left.

Stat to know

2 (This was Murphy’s second walk-off of his career. He had a walk-off two-run homer against the Reds in April 2023.)

Quotable

“That was probably one of the top two or three most draining games I’ve ever been a part of.” – Snitker

Up next

The Braves will start Charlie Morton (8-7, 4.24) against the Reds in a make-up game Monday at Truist Park.

Braves 4, Blue Jays 3

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