The Atlanta Braves suffered an embarrassing loss to the Blue Jays on Mother's Day by the score of 6-5. The defense couldn't catch pop-ups, the umpiring crews couldn't call balls and strikes, the bullpen couldn't hold leads, and Raisel Iglesias came into the ninth with a lead somehow and proceeded to give up a walk-off two-run single with two outs.
We will start with the positive stuff as there were some good things that happened in this game. First, Austin Riley had a pair of hits and a walk. Riley has struggled a good bit for a while now, so it was nice for him to string together a nice game. Kevin Pillar also had a nice homecoming back to Toronto as he connected for his fourth home run of the season.
Ronald Acuna Jr. led the game off with a solo home run that was measured at 114.1 mph off the bat and 421 feet...but it sure felt like it went further than that. Michael Harris II added an RBI single in the second inning to make it a two run Braves lead. After a series of unfortunate events cost the Braves' the lead, Ozzie Albies came to the plate and connected for a two-run homer that gave the Braves the lead again in the third inning.
2-run 💣 for the lead!@ozzie | #ForTheA pic.twitter.com/smowASJshE
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 14, 2023
Sadly, that was where the good news stopped (other than some good work out of the bullpen by Kirby Yates and Nick Anderson. A George Springer solo homer in the fourth brought Toronto within a run. After that, the Braves missed several scoring chances and the Braves' defense could not make several routine plays. The scoreboard only listed three errors by the Braves, but it was decidedly worse than that. You can also go ahead and circle this game to look at the Umpire Scorecard for tomorrow as the strike zone was an absolute adventure.
It is probably best that we call forget that that series ever happened. Next, the Braves head to Texas to take on the Rangers for a three game set before an off day on Thursday. One hopes that that series goes significantly better.