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Burnett outduels Reyes as Jays down Braves

Baseball Betting Lines

06/29/2008 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rios drove in Marco Scutaro with the lone run of the game on a double in the sixth and A.J. Burnett was dominant through seven innings of work as the Toronto Blue Jays edged the Atlanta Braves in the rubber match of a three-game interleague series at Rogers Centre.

Burnett (8-7) was magnificent, allowing only four hits, while striking out 11 and walking four. The hard-throwing right-hander, who started his career in the National League, improved to 5-9 in 17 career starts versus the Braves. B.J. Ryan recorded his 16th save of the season.

"I felt good the whole time out there." Burnett said. "I had a really good fastball today with a lot of jump. The curveball was short and tight. I didn't bounce many and that shows you that it was good."

Rios finished with two doubles and Scott Rolen and Vernon Wells each doubled for Toronto, which have won five of its last seven.

Jo-Jo Reyes (3-6) was the hard-luck loser. The left-hander pitched seven solid frames, giving up one run on six hits, while striking out five and walking a pair.

Gregor Blanco had two hits for the Braves, who were limited to five total hits and have dropped four of their last six games.

"We're not playing the way we want to be playing." Braves catcher Brian McCann said of the teams' struggles. "We're pitching awesome. That's the frustrating part. Our pitching staff is giving us a chance to win almost every night. We're not doing the little things to help them and it's tough."

Neither team could mount much of an offensive threat in the first two and a half innings, but Toronto appeared to have something going in the bottom of the third. Brad Wilkerson drew a walk and John McDonald followed with a single, putting runners on first and second. However, Reyes settled down to get David Eckstein to ground into a double play and got Scutaro to ground out to end the inning.

Atlanta had a quality chance to get on the board in the fourth when the first two batters walked, but McCann flied out and Greg Norton grounded into a 1-6-3 twin killing.

The Braves threatened again in the top of the sixth when Blanco led off with a single and took second on a sacrifice bunt by Ruben Gotay. Burnett then struck out Kelly Johnson swinging and after intentionally walking Mark Teixeira, the hard-throwing right-hander got McCann looking to get out of trouble.

Toronto finally got a run in the bottom half of the sixth. Scutaro reached base with a one-out single and Rios laced a double down the left-field line allowing Scutaro to score just under the tag of McCann. The Blue Jays were looking for more, but with the infield drawn in, Wells grounded out to second and Rod Barajas was retired on a weak grounder to third to end the inning.

Norton led off the top of the seventh with a two-base hit and one out later took third on Burnett's wild pitch, but Brandon Jones and Brent Lillibridge fanned and Toronto maintained it's slim lead.

Atlanta tried responding in the eighth off reliever Scott Downs. With runners on first and second and two outs, the southpaw was able to get McCann to ground out weakly to second to get out of trouble.

After the Blue Jays failed to get some insurance in the bottom of the frame, Ryan came on for the ninth and struck out the first two hitters before retiring Jones on a deep fly ball to left to end the game.

Game Notes

Atlanta begins a six-game homestand on Tuesday when it opens up a three-game set versus Philadelphia, while the Blue Jays start a six-game road trip with a three-game series at Seattle on Monday night...Toronto is 8-10 against the National League this season and 101-110 all-time in interleague play. The Braves are 8-7 versus the Junior Circuit in 2008 and 103-93 against the AL since interleague play began in 1997.