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Parrish, Blue Jays top Braves

Jun 28, 2008 - 9:33 PM TORONTO (Ticker) -- In his first start in almost four years, John Parrish made a good impression.

Parrish won his season debut and Vernon Wells homered and had three RBI as the Toronto Blue Jays posted a 9-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday.

Mostly used as a reliever during his seven-year career, Parrish (1-0) was making just his 11th career start and first since July 7, 2004.

"He got in trouble a couple of times but he battled threw it," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "He pitched a great ballgame for us, absolutely great."

The lefthander allowed just one run and four hits over six innings, walking two and striking out four during his 98-pitch outing. Parrish had gone 8-1 with a 2.49 ERA in 11 starts with Class AAA Syracuse before being called up on Friday.

"I really didn't have anything to lose," Parrish said. "I knew coming in what the situation was. I tried to just forget about all that and go out there and do what I was doing earlier in the year."

Rod Barajas broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth with a solo home run and Toronto padded its lead in the sixth against Atlanta starter Tim Hudson (8-6).

Wells led off the inning with a deep home run to left and the Blue Jays then loaded the bases with nobody out. Adam Lind lofted a sacrifice fly and Joe Inglett delivered a two-run single later in the frame, giving Toronto a 6-1 lead.

The Braves cut the deficit to 6-5 in the top of the eighth with a four-run inning capped by Mark Teixeira's two-run homer to right field.

"I didn't get much to hit," said Texeira, who walked twice. "I was trying to put good swings on it. The ball I hit out was a hanging changeup and those are good pitches to hit."

But Toronto scored three insurance runs in the bottom half of the eighth as David Eckstein hit an RBI single to right and three batters later, Wells delivered a two-run double, pushing the advantage to 9-5.

"We made a nice comeback but we just couldn't hold them again," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "We had plenty of hitting late. We didn't do much early but we scored late."

Hudson was charged with six runs and seven hits in five-plus innings, striking out three. The home runs hit by Barajas and Wells were the first he had allowed to righthanded hitters all season.