Toronto Blue Jays (19-16, third in the AL East) vs. Atlanta Braves (17-19, third in the NL East)
Atlanta; Thursday, 12:20 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Blue Jays: Ross Stripling (0-2, 6.61 ERA, 1.90 WHIP, 17 strikeouts) Braves: Charlie Morton (2-2, 6.55 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 40 strikeouts)
LINE: Braves -149, Blue Jays +130; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Toronto heads into the matchup fresh off a strong showing by Hyun-Jin Ryu. Ryu went seven innings, giving up one run on five hits with six strikeouts against Atlanta.
The Braves are 9-10 in home games in 2020. Atlanta has hit 52 combined home runs this season, most in the National League. Ronald Acuna Jr. leads the club with 11 while slugging .640 with 19 extra-base hits.
The Blue Jays have gone 12-12 away from home. Toronto has hit 51 home runs this season, second in the league. Marcus Semien leads the team with eight, averaging one every 17.4 at-bats.
The Blue Jays won the last meeting 4-1. Hyun Jin Ryu earned his third victory and Teoscar Hernandez went 2-for-3 with two home runs and three RBIs for Toronto. Luke Jackson registered his first loss for Atlanta.
TOP PERFORMERS: Acuna Jr. leads the Braves with 19 extra base hits and is batting .304.
Bo Bichette leads the Blue Jays with 39 hits and has 20 RBIs.
LAST 10 GAMES: Braves: 5-5, .213 batting average, 4.08 ERA, outscored by seven runs
Blue Jays: 6-4, .251 batting average, 4.61 ERA, outscored opponents by 12 runs
INJURIES: Braves: Touki Toussaint: (right shoulder), Mike Soroka: (achilles), Grant Dayton: (thigh), Ender Inciarte: (hamstring), Guillermo Heredia: (right hamstring), Alex Jackson: (left hamstring), Travis d'Arnaud: (left thumb).
Blue Jays: Kirby Yates: (tommy john surgery), David Phelps: (right lat), Patrick Murphy: (shoulder), Tommy Milone: (undisclosed), Julian Merryweather: (left oblique), Tom Hatch: (elbow), Rafael Dolis: (right calf), Anthony Castro: (forearm), George Springer: (quad), Joe Panik: (calf), Alejandro Kirk: (left hip flexor).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
