'Pen falters, but reinforcements are coming

ATLANTA -- Even if Marcell Ozuna is ready to break out of his early slumber, the Braves will need to fix their bullpen to find the consistent success that has eluded them this season.

Ronald Acuña Jr. regained MLB’s home run lead, and Ozuna backed Bryse Wilson’s strong start with a go-ahead homer at Truist Park on Tuesday night. But A.J. Minter and Jacob Webb stumbled their way through a three-run eighth that sunk the Braves in a 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays.

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“I’m not going to worry about this one,” Minter said. “I’ve been through a lot of adversity. This is nothing. So I’m just going to go out there and hopefully get back in the game tomorrow and help this team win.”

A few days from now, this outcome might have been different. As top right-handed reliever Chris Martin (right shoulder inflammation) was cruising through what was likely his final rehab appearance, the Braves had to ask lefties Tyler Matzek and Minter to serve as their top setup men against Toronto’s righty-heavy lineup.

Matzek got through the seventh unscathed, but Minter allowed an earned run for the first time since April 15, a streak that extended over 10 appearances. As a result, the Braves didn’t move above .500 for the first time this season.

They have now lost three of the 17 games they have led after the seventh inning. They were 23-0 in such games last year.

Needless to say, this team is looking forward to activating Martin this week and welcoming recently re-signed right-hander Shane Greene back within the next few weeks.

“It's going to be big [to add more right-handers] because we're extremely left-handed, and you run into teams like this,” manager Brian Snitker said. “You kind of run out of options. So, I think it’s going to be good when we get all of those guys back.”

Here are three takeaways from the Braves’ latest loss:

Eighth-inning defense
Minter had allowed three hits and issued two walks over his 10 most recent appearances. The former closer has been rock solid. But he surrendered a leadoff double in the eighth to Jonathan Davis, who took advantage of an elevated changeup. Making matters worse, the left-handed reliever got a comebacker from Marcus Semien but hesitated before throwing to second in an attempt to retire Davis, who had strayed too far off the base.

“When I fielded it, I was just going to check him to make sure he wasn’t out too far,” Minter said. “I realized he was out too far. So I hesitated and double pumped. I still feel like I could have got him. I felt like the ball beat him there. He just did a good job of sliding underneath the tag.”

“Who knows where the inning goes, if we can get that out,” Snitker wondered.

After Minter allowed Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s game-tying RBI single with nobody out, the Braves called upon Webb, who promptly induced a grounder that came off Teoscar Hernández’s bat at 57.3 mph. Once Freddie Freeman fielded it, he pumped toward the plate and then ate the ball. Webb didn’t break toward first base because he assumed he’d be entering the line of Freeman’s throw to the plate.

So no out was made on the play. As a result, the bases were still loaded when Cavan Biggio drew a walk to extend the Blue Jays’ lead to two runs.

A noticeable change
Not wanting to have Drew Smyly face the Blue Jays less than three weeks after they hit three homers against him, the Braves promoted Wilson from Triple-A Gwinnett and watched him deliver his finest start since silencing the Dodgers in Game 4 of last year’s National League Championship Series. The right-hander limited Toronto to Guerrero’s two-run homer in the sixth.

While making a start for Gwinnett last week, Wilson found the value of leaning more heavily on his changeup. He used the pitch 27 times during his 84-pitch effort against the Blue Jays. The 32 percent usage trumped his previous high (minimum 50 pitches) of 24.7 percent, which he produced while starting against the Phillies on March 30, 2019.

“You know, it just took me a while to actually start trusting it and throwing it as much as I should," Wilson said. “I’m happy with the results so far.”

An effective changeup could enhance the value of Wilson’s sinker, which induced three called strikes as the young hurler struck out each of three batters faced in the first.

It's a really good [changeup],” Snitker said. “I think he's headed in the right direction. That was really, really encouraging.”

Ozuna’s rise
Acuña scored on Ozzie Albies’ single in the first and hit his MLB-leading 11th homer in the third. As Acuña has produced MVP-type numbers through the season’s first six weeks, Ozuna hasn’t been the same imposing threat he was when he led the Majors with 18 homers last year.

But Ozuna showed some more signs of life with his sixth-inning solo homer off left-hander Robbie Ray. The veteran outfielder has just five homers this year, but four have been hit within his past 12 games.