The Atlanta Braves hoped to avoid being swept by the Blue Jays for a second time on Thursday afternoon.
It was like déjà vu all over again for the Atlanta Braves as they were facing yet another sweep on Thursday.
The Blue Jays offense has been relentless against Atlanta’s pitching staff and that was no different during Thursday’s game.
Atlanta experienced yet another rough start from Charlie Morton and the bullpen couldn’t hold down the Jays offense either.
Not only that, the Braves lost two of their outfielders to injury during the game. Cristian Pache went down with hamstring tightness and Ronald Acuña Jr. with an apparent ankle injury after he tried to beat out a throw to first.
Things looked good early on as the Braves took the lead early on a first-pitch homer off the bat of Ronald Acuña Jr. into the Hank Aaron Terrace in left-field.
That poor baseball never had a chance 😱 #ForTheA pic.twitter.com/qTuC5tbL5j
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 13, 2021
Adrianza drove in another run in the first as Atlanta took a quick 2-0 lead and appeared to have figured out Ross Stripling this time around.
Charlie Morton took the mound for Atlanta hoping to improve upon his last outing which only lasted 2/3 of an inning.
Morton lasted much longer in this game but still didn’t pitch as well as he and many Braves fans hope he would have.
His stint ended after 4.2 innings pitched allowing 3 earned runs on 7 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts.
Charlie allowed the first Toronto run to score in the top of the 2nd inning and held Toronto at bay until the fifth. The Blue Jays scored 2 runs in the fifth to take the lead 3-2.
The fifth inning was that one inning where Morton just seems to always run into trouble. There’s always that one inning that he just seems to hit a roadblock.
Atlanta desperately needs him to figure this out and give fans some confidence near the top of our rotation.
Chris Martin made his return from the IL with a scoreless frame in the top of the sixth. It was nice to see him back in the mix.
Chris Martin starts the 7th with a 4-3 lead, his first appearance since April 4.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) May 13, 2021
Dansby Swanson did his best to give Atlanta a chance to win the game as he blasted a 2-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it a 4-3 score.
Unfortunately, the bullpen — after Webb and Martin — didn’t hold up their end of the deal.
A.J. Minter, who had been so good the last couple of weeks, found himself in yet another bad outing. He’d hoped to redeem himself from Tuesday night’s poor performance.
That didn’t happen as A.J. allowed the tying run to score after walking the first batter he faced in the inning. Luke Jackson came in to luckily keep the game tied at 4 apiece.
Will Smith started off the top of the ninth looking to hold Toronto right there and give the Braves a shot at a walk-off win.
That was not to be as Smith allowed 4 runs to score in the inning and sealed Atlanta’s fate as they dropped the final game of the series 8-4 and were swept for a second time by the Blue Jays.
There are some glaring issues with this bullpen being able to hold leads and I hope it can be fixed soon. It’s disheartening to watch as a fan.
Martin coming back and pitching well was encouraging and hopefully Shane Greene will be able to come back and contribute to the team sooner rather than later.
Atlanta travels to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers and hopefully get back into the win column.
The team received good news after the game as it was announced x-rays on Acuña’s ankle were negative and he is listed as day-to-day.
Christian Pache will be placed on the IL with a hamstring strain and likely be replaced on the roster by Ender Inciarte who was healing from a similar injury.
I hope this team can find some consistency soon because it is tough to watch this team lose series after series as often as they have been.