Missed opportunities underscore 'weird weekend' for Braves

TORONTO -- The good news is the Braves have gone winless against the Blue Jays during any season in which they’ve won the World Series.

The better news is Atlanta can now turn the page on a frustration-filled weekend that concluded with closer Raisel Iglesias blowing a ninth-inning lead in a 6-5 loss to Toronto on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre.

“We haven’t been swinging the bat well and we played sloppy defense,” Braves outfielder Kevin Pillar said. “We had a chance in the ninth and that’s just the way it goes sometimes. It feels like when you’re in one of these things everything is going against you -- individually and team-wise.”

This was always going to be a rough stretch for the Braves, who learned on Tuesday they will spend a couple of months without both Max Fried and Kyle Wright in their starting rotation. But as they find themselves in the midst of a four-game losing streak, starting pitching hasn’t been the problem. It certainly wasn’t during this Toronto series.

Constructing a bullpen game for the second time in four games (five days), Atlanta carried a 5-4 lead into Sunday’s ninth inning. The challenge of navigating a game with nothing but relievers was over. But Iglesias proceeded to allow three singles and issue a walk while facing six batters in the ninth.

“We didn’t play our best game, but we had an opportunity to win the game,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Even so, we couldn’t close the deal. It is frustrating, but this game is frustrating.”

That’s certainly one way to explain this past weekend -- or most games the Braves have played against the Blue Jays over the past three seasons. Atlanta has now lost nine straight against Toronto, and the 2021 Braves won the World Series after going 0-6 against the Blue Jays during the regular season.

“We’ve been through it all,” third baseman Austin Riley said. “There’s no panic. You’ve just got to swallow it.”

What’s tough to swallow is how the Braves were swept in this Toronto series.

Friday’s loss
Spencer Strider recorded 12 strikeouts and induced a career-high 32 swings and misses while throwing 110 pitches over 6 2/3 innings. Because Dylan Lee had served as an opener two days before and A.J. Minter wasn’t available, Snitker rolled the dice with Danny Young, who quickly allowed the Blue Jays to double their one-run advantage. But it’s tough to call the game winnable when the offense was shut out.

Saturday’s loss
Bryce Elder pitched effectively over five innings, but Marcell Ozuna’s two-run homer accounted for the only runs tallied by an Atlanta offense that was limited to four runs over a 27-inning span from Wednesday through Saturday. The opportunity to win this game faded as the Blue Jays broke a 2-2 tie with a pair of seventh-inning runs against Minter, who has walked or allowed a hit to 21 of the past 51 batters faced.

Again, this loss couldn’t be blamed on starting pitching. It was just a frustration-filled, sloppy weekend for the Braves. Miscommunication plagued Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies when they nearly collided on a Whit Merrifield shallow fly ball that fell to the ground to begin Toronto’s three-run second inning.

Pillar, who played in Toronto from 2013-19, also nearly collided with center fielder Michael Harris II on a Matt Chapman fly ball that resulted in a two-base error. Kirby Yates pitched around the miscue during a scoreless seventh.

“There’s days here when the roof is open that it can be difficult,” Pillar said. “For a lot of guys who haven’t played here a ton, you don’t feel a lot of the wind on the ground level. It’s kind of higher up when the ball gets up there. The ball was going all over the place. We made some mistakes, but I don’t think that’s what cost us the game.”

Acuña gave the Braves an immediate lead with his 28th career leadoff homer and Pillar silenced his former fans with a homer to begin the fourth. Albies’ two-run homer off Toronto starter Yusei Kikuchi in the third helped him improve his OPS against left-handed pitchers to 1.274.

But for the first time this season and the sixth time since the start of 2022, the Braves lost a game in which they homered at least three times. The crushing blows came courtesy of the game’s final two hits -- Brandon Belt’s 60.9 mph infield single and Danny Jansen’s 85.1 mph walk-off two-run hit.

“It was a weird weekend that we’ll forget,” Riley said.