A new and improved lineup was discussed earlier today and Atlanta's bats have come alive against rookie Zach Stewart.
Mike Minor gave up a run in the first inning, but he has settled in nicely and six strikeouts through four innings. The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the fourth, but Minor struck out two batters to get out of the jam. He's likely fighting to keep his spot in the rotation, especially with Brandon Beachy returning Wednesday and Tommy Hanson's inflamed shoulder feeling better.
Chipper Jones drove in Jordan Schafer to tie up the game in the first on a sacrifice fly. Brian McCann followed in the third inning with a monster 2-run homer to right field. Alex Gonzalez doubled down the left field line to bring in Dan Uggla from first and Jason Heyward added on a fifth run in the fourth inning with a line drive up the middle that nearly decapitated the Blue Jays' starter. Atlanta had a chance to blow the game wide open with the bases loaded, but reliever Marc Rzepczynski struck out Freddie Freeman for the final out of the inning.
Minor is now pitching in the fifth and has thrown just 67 pitches. The game is being aired on Fox Sports South and PeachTree TV, as well as MLB Network for a select few.