Braves can’t sweep Blue Jays in 7-2 loss

The Braves had Cy Young contender Chris Sale on the mound. The Blue Jays used opener Mason Fluharty and followed with a 25-year-old named Chad Dallas in his MLB debut.

As baseball would have it, guess which team won?

It was another series win but not a sweep for the Braves, who fell 7-2 on Thursday at Truist Park. Consider it an off night for the offense against pitchers it should’ve theoretically feasted against.

And it was an odd night for Sale, too, who was victimized by singles and weak contact. He surrendered 10 hits, eight of which were singles (the other two were doubles). Just two of the hits had an exit velocity over 97 mph. Four hits had exit velocities under 77 mph.

“Kind of just a weird game,” Sale said. “I bet if you look at every time I’ve ever given up 10 hits in a game, it was probably attached to six, seven, eight runs. So you can take some good and you can take some bad, but at the end of the day, we won another series against a good ballclub.”

Sale’s ERA increased from 2.01 to 2.23. It’s intriguing to track start-by-start, given how contested this brilliant National League Cy Young race is pacing to be. But importantly, Sale said his slider felt better than his previous outing in Boston and he’s making tweaks to find more consistent command.

The Cy Young winner is an all-important figure in this Braves season. They need him healthy and effective throughout the campaign and especially in October. It’s a bit jarring to realize Sale hasn’t yet pitched in the postseason for this franchise.

There wasn’t any offensive backing for Sale. The Braves were held to four hits against six Blue Jays relievers. First baseman Matt Olson’s sacrifice fly produced the first run, and uber utilityman Mauricio Dubón homered in the eighth to pull the Braves within a run. They went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Reynaldo López, who’s working to find his niche as a reliever, struggled in the ninth, surrendering four runs on five hits to put the game out of reach. Three of his previous four appearances were scoreless, which Weiss said was encouraging, but López still hasn’t looked crisp in that time. Weiss has noted that the veteran is still adjusting after missing last season due to injury.

“I thought he was trending well the last few times out,” Weiss said. “The velocity was up (it’s averaged 94 mph this season, below his 95.5 mark in 2024). They (the Blue Jays) put balls in play and found some holes. I thought the last few times out were encouraging. He had a tough one tonight, but that’s what they did all night: They make contact, they don’t miss. We still got some punchouts but they have a high swing rate and high contact rate.”

Still, Weiss acknowledged that López likely isn’t happy about how the season has transpired. He lost his spot in the rotation and it’s increasingly apparent he’ll remain in the bullpen throughout the summer.

“He broke camp as a starter and he’s not in the rotation,” Weiss said. “I’m sure he’d rather that not be the case.”