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Minor pitches Braves past Blue Jays

Jun 22, 2011 - 2:27 AM Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Mike Minor pitched seven brilliant innings, yielding only one run on five hits to lead the Atlanta Braves past the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-1, at Turner Field.

Minor (1-2) struck out eight and issued only one walk for Atlanta, which has won three straight games, including the first two of this three-game interleague series.

"It feels nice to finally get a win this year," said Minor, who was 3-2 in nine games with the Braves last season. "But mostly I just try to get some wins for the team."

Brian McCann smashed a two-run homer and Jason Heyward added an RBI single for the Braves, who had lost five of the six games before their current winning streak.

Zach Stewart (0-1) went 3 2/3 innings in defeat, giving up five runs on 10 hits while walking three and fanning two in his second major league start.

Adam Lind picked up two hits, including an RBI single in the first inning for Toronto's only run. Corey Patterson and Yunel Escobar added doubles for the Blue Jays, who have lost three consecutive games and eight of their last 12.

Jonny Venters pitched a perfect ninth to close out the win for Atlanta.

The Braves took the lead in the third. After a single to right from Chipper Jones, McCann deposited a fastball from Stewart into the seats in right for his 12th home run of the year. Alex Gonzalez added an RBI double to give the Braves a 4-1 lead.

"I just left a few balls over the middle of the plate. The mistakes I made they took care of and did their job on," Stewart said. "I guess that's what you find out is the difference with the major leagues and the minor leagues is the amount of mistakes you make. I made too many. I think I was a little bit anxious, rushing a little bit. I wasn't finding the zone like I was last game."

After a walk to Jordan Schafer and a single by Heyward, the Braves had runners on the corners with no outs in the first inning. Jones lofted a sacrifice fly to center to plate Schafer and tie the game at 1-1.

The inning continued with singles by McCann and Freddie Freeman to put runners on first and second with two down. But Stewart finally got Dan Uggla to ground into a force out to end the inning after throwing 26 pitches.

After rallying for three in the third, Atlanta picked up its last run in the fourth inning on Heyward's RBI single. Minor doubled down the right field line with one out and scored on Heyward's hit. The Braves had a chance to score more with the bases loaded and two down. Stewart was removed in favor of Marc Rzepczynski, who fanned Freeman to limit the damage.

Game Notes

Prior to Tuesday's game, the Braves optioned infielder Diory Hernandez and purchased the contract of infielder Julio Lugo from Triple-A Gwinnett...Jones made his return to the lineup Tuesday after missing the pervious four games with a strained adductor muscle...Toronto is 19-20 on the road this season.