ATLANTA - Teoscar Hernández hit two homers and drove in three runs, and Hyun Jin Ryu pitched seven sharp innings and the Toronto Blue Jays won 4-1 on a cold Wednesday night to continue their dominance of the Atlanta Braves.
Toronto improved to 5-0 against the Braves this season and has outscored them 35-16.
Hernández has hit four homers and has driven in 15 runs in 12 games since returning from the COVID-19 injured list on April 30. He said he wasn't worried about falling behind on his baseball skills while missing 16 games.
"When I was at home during my recovery, I wasn't doing a lot of baseball stuff," Hernández said. "I was trying to get my body ready, because I knew if my body was ready, the baseball stuff was going to be there."
William Contreras hit a long home run in the fifth for the only run allowed by Ryu (3-2), who gave up five hits, struck out six batters and walked one.
Ryu said the pitcher's duel with Max Fried helped him on the mound.
"In a situation like that we tend to focus more and be able to concentrate on all our pitches," Ryu, who is from South Korea, said through a translator.
Reliever Tyler Chatwood retired Ronald Acuña Jr., Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna in the eighth. A.J. Cole pitched the ninth for his first save this season.
Hernández hit the first pitch thrown by right-hander Luke Jackson (1-1) in the seventh over the center-field wall, giving Toronto a 2-1 lead. He added a two-run shot 464 feet to left-center off Josh Tomlin in the ninth.
On Tuesday, Hernández had a go-ahead infield single in the eighth in a 5-3 win over Atlanta. He said his swings are "in a good path" and added ""that's what I'm going to try to keep doing."
The temperature for the first pitch was a brisk 52 degrees. Fans wore jackets and stocking caps and huddled under blankets, an unusual necessity for Atlanta in May.
Contreras pulled a knee-high pitch from Ryu 463 feet into the seats in left field for his second homer. The drive came exactly one week after Contreras - the younger brother of All-Star catcher Willson Contreras of the Chicago Cubs - hit his first homer, doing so in a road game against the Washington Nationals.
The Blue Jays pulled even in the sixth. Cavan Biggio walked, stole second and scored on Marcus Semien's double to the left-field wall. Semien extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
Fried allowed only two hits and one run in six innings. The strong start was especially important after the Braves learned right-hander Mike Soroka might not pitch this season.
Before the game, Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said Soroka is facing a setback in his recovery from surgery to repair his torn right Achilles' tendon, an injury that ended his 2020 season soon after it started. Soroka will have a second surgery early next week in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to determine the cause of renewed discomfort.
Fried was denied in his bid to become the first pitcher to win his first eight interleague starts. He was 7-0 with a 2.18 ERA in his first eight starts against American League teams.
Even so, Fried lowered his ERA from 8.44 ERA to 6.55 with his second consecutive strong start.
"Moved the ball around, felt like I kept them off balance," he said. "I feel it was a solid outing."
Snitker described Fried's start as "really good. Really, really good."
Before the game, Atlanta right-hander Chris Martin (right shoulder inflammation) was reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Martin was scheduled to pitch a second consecutive day with Triple-A Gwinnett. Snitker said he decided "we might as well do it here."
Atlanta left-hander Grant Dayton (left thigh inflammation) was placed on the 10-day IL, retroactive to May 9. Lefty Sean Newcomb, who was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett, pitched the eighth.
Also, right-hander Bryse Wilson was optioned to Gwinnett after allowing two runs in six innings on Tuesday night.
The Blue Jays had runners thrown out on the bases in each of the first two innings. Bo Bichette singled in the first and took a wide turn around first base when the ball bounced under the glove of Acuña in right field. Acuña recovered quickly and threw Bichette out at first base in a call confirmed on a replay challenge.
Hernández walked to lead off the second and was caught stealing after a pickoff throw by Fried.