ATLANTA – The Toronto Blue Jays gave the Atlanta Braves too many chances with walks, a balk and finally a devastating error in the 10th inning.
Jason Heyward stole third base and scored on catcher J.P. Arencibia's throwing error in the 10th as the Braves beat the Blue Jays 4-3 on Friday night for their fifth straight victory.
Toronto starter Kyle Drabek forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk in the third, setting the pace for the Blue Jays' night.
"We walked in a run and the winning run scores on an error," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said.
Heyward said there was no sign for him to steal third.
"It was all on my own," Heyward said. "I knew I had a great chance at taking a base and putting some pressure on them and they ended up throwing it away."
Heyward opened the 10th with an infield single off Francisco Cordero (1-4) and moved to second on pinch-hitter Jack Wilson's sacrifice. With rookie Andrelton Simmons at the plate, Heyward took off for third. Arencibia's throw skipped past third baseman Brett Lawrie and into left field, allowing Heyward to score the winning run.
"When you give up a run by an errant throw, certainly that's not what you design to do," Farrell said.
The Braves scored two runs in the sixth, including one run on Chad Beck's balk.
"It wasn't a balk," Farrell said tersely.
The Blue Jays fell three games behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East.
"Sometimes it goes our way and sometimes it doesn't," Drabek said. "Today was one of the times that it didn't."
Toronto pitchers issued seven walks, including four to Dan Uggla. Drabek gave up three runs and six hits and walked four in five innings.
"He kept us in the game for five innings," Farrell said. "He battled. I thought he had good stuff when he was in the strike zone. They didn't mount a whole lot against him."
Cristhian Martinez (3-1) pitched a scoreless inning for the Braves, who remained one game behind first-place Washington in the NL East.
The Blue Jays tied the game 3-3 in the eighth when Edwin Encarnacion doubled and scored on Yunel Escobar's groundout.
Jose Bautista homered for Toronto.
Both teams stranded a runner at third in the ninth.
Rajai Davis led off the inning with an infield single off Craig Kimbrel and stole second as pinch-hitter David Cooper struck out. Davis also stole third before Kimbrel struck out Lawrie and ended the inning on a fly to left by Colby Rasmus.
Atlanta's Martin Prado doubled to left field off Jason Frasor in the bottom of the ninth and moved to third on Frasor's wild pitch before Uggla struck out to end the inning.
Atlanta's Brandon Beachy gave up two runs, three hits and a season-high five walks in five-plus innings.
Drabek began the night third in the American League with 41 walks and added two in the third inning to help the Braves take a 1-0 lead. Beachy, who had two hits, singled and moved to third on Michael Bourn's double. Drabek loaded the bases by walking Brian McCann with two outs before also walking Uggla to force in Beachy.
Beachy couldn't retire a batter in the sixth. Bautista's 16th homer, into the left-field seats, tied the score at 1. Beachy gave up a single to Encarnacion and a walk to Kelly Johnson, his final batter. Encarnacion scored later in the inning on Arencibia's grounder.
The Braves regained the lead with two runs off Drabek in the sixth. Uggla led off the inning with his third walk and scored on Heyward's double to center. Heyward moved to third on Eric Hinske's fly ball before Beck walked Simmons. One out later, Beck balked as Simmons took off trying to steal second, allowing Heyward to score the go-ahead run.
Freddie Freeman, who had been out since bruising his left index finger Wednesday, struck out as a pinch-hitter in the sixth and remained in the game at first base.
The Braves retired John Smoltz's No. 29 in a pregame ceremony. Smoltz also threw out the first pitch, which he later confirmed was a four-seam fastball to McCann.
During his speech, Smoltz mentioned Farrell, who was Boston's pitching coach in 2009 when Smoltz pitched for the Red Sox during his final season.
NOTES: Blue Jays 1B coach Torey Lovullo was away from the team for personal reasons. Coaching assistant Luis Rivera filled in. ... Attendance was 42,488. ... Braves 3B Chipper Jones (bruised left calf) had one hit and two walks as he began an injury rehabilitation assignment with Class-A Rome. Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said Jones' assignment could last three days. ... Encarnacion, who had been out since he was hit by a pitch on his right wrist Sunday, started at first base. ... Davis started in LF after missing one game with a jammed left middle finger. ... Toronto rookie RHP Drew Hutchison (5-2) will face RHP Tommy Hanson (6-4) on Saturday.
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