Bassitt twirls 2-hit complete-game shutout as Blue Jays bounce Atlanta in series opener

After his excellent two-hit, complete-game shutout, Toronto Blue Jays righty Chris Bassitt appeared more concerned about how the city's hockey team was faring two blocks down the street.

Bassitt had just blanked National League-leading Atlanta 3-0 on Friday, but his sporting, competitive nature was with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"Let's make this quick. There's another game, you know," Bassitt (5-2) said, beginning his post-game remarks. The Maple Leafs had just tied Game 5 against the Florida Panthers to send the game into overtime.

Meanwhile, the humble Bassitt already seemed to put his masterful performance in the rear-view mirror.

"I just executed a lot better than most nights," said Bassitt, who extended his shutout innings streak to a career-high 20. "We had a game plan going in, and I pretty much executed it."

Bassitt struck out eight, including the final players for Atlanta (25-13), and allowed only two walks and hit two batters in his 103-pitch effort.

"That's an incredible lineup over there, and for him to do what he did, it just felt like he was in complete control of everything he threw," George Springer said. "He seemed to throw sweepers and all sorts of Chris Bassitt stuff they weren't expecting."

Blue Jays manager John Schneider made a trip to the mound with two out in the eighth inning.

"I went out there and said, 'How are you doing?"' Schneider said. "He said, 'perfect.' I said 'all right, what's your plan' and he said, 'sinker away.' I said, 'Go get him.'

"He's the type of dude that you immediately trust because of the prep that he does."

Praise for the defence

Bassitt retired the first 13 players in order but then gave up a one-out double down the right-field line to Eddie Rosario in the fifth inning.

"I'm not saying flawlessly by any means just because our defence was unbelievable," Bassitt said. "I don't know how many hits they took away."

Rosario was caught stealing third by Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk, but Bassitt loaded the bases with two hit batters and a walk. Springer hustled to make a running catch in foul territory off the bat of Orlando Arcia to end the inning.

With players on first and second with none out in the sixth, Matt Chapman collected a Matt Olson chopper, touched third and tossed out Olson for a double play.

This was an old fashion pitching duel between Bassitt and Atlanta's Spencer Strider (4-1) before 35,047 at Rogers Centre.

The Blue Jays snatched a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning. Whit Merrifield delivered a two-out single to centre field and scored on Springer's single to left. The Blue Jays added a run in the seventh inning on a passed ball with the bases loaded and another in the eighth on a one-out homer to straightaway centre from Daulton Varsho off reliever Kirby Yates.

The hard-throwing Strider had his no-hit bid end in the third inning with a two-out single to centre from Kiermaier.

Strider (4-1) went 6.2 innings, striking out 11, walking one and giving up two runs on five hits before giving way to reliever Danny Young, who walked the first two batters he faced.