With the bases loaded and two out in the top of the seventh inning Tuesday night, the stage was set for Josh Donaldson to write a fairytale ending to his homecoming story.
But down 2-1 in his first game against his former team, the Braves third baseman’s at-bat ended in a similarly dispiriting fashion as his first three of the night, with Donaldson hitting a high pop-up to Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette.
The 2015 American League MVP was playing his first game back in Toronto since May 24, 2018. Despite receiving a standing ovation from the 24,578 in attendance following a minute-long tribute video before the first pitch, the 33-year-old could do little to prevent the Braves sliding to a second straight 3-1 loss.
Despite a career .292 average in 244 games at Rogers Centre coming into the game, Donaldson went 0-for-4, his second straight hitless performance. Equally as deflating, in his first time in the field, he skied a routine throw to first, allowing Bichette to get all the way to second and eventually score the first run. It was Donaldson’s first error since July 20.
But in a game of slim margins, Donaldson wasn’t going to get too downhearted about his missed opportunity at the plate.
“I was able to work a pretty good at-bat right there,” he said. “I just missed a breaking ball at 3-2. I felt that was kind of the case all night.”
Given his five home runs and .438 average in bases-loaded situations, his teammates were almost a little surprised when Donaldson couldn’t cash in, particularly after the third pitch from reliever Derek Law brushed him back from the plate and left him lying in the dirt.
“I thought he was going to hit a grand slam,” said first baseman Freddie Freeman, who also went 0-for-4. “It was the perfect setting. Unfortunately it’s a round ball and a round bat and it’s really hard to hit that.”
On the mound for the Braves, rookie right-hander Mike Soroka, the Calgary native who was also experiencing a homecoming of sorts, kept the Braves in the game despite giving up two first-inning runs.
Soroka, who had a 2.41 ERA heading into the game, was better in his second start back in Canada than his first time round in June of 2018, when he lasted just 4 2/3 innings, giving up four earned runs in the process. But with another year’s experience under his belt, the youngest Canadian-born pitcher to ever pitch in Canada showed an added level of maturity to his game.
After Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Justin Smoak drove in two runs in the opening frame, Soroka settled down, giving up just four hits over the next five innings, and while he registered just one strikeout, he helped strand three Toronto baserunners and did enough to keep Atlanta within striking distance. He was eventually replaced after just 79 pitches.
“It felt great, honestly,” the right-hander said after seeing his record fall to 10-3. “Today was one of those days that I feel really good coming out early and letting it eat. We wanted to be aggressive just like we have been done all year and credit to them, I threw some pitches over the plate and they got hit.”
Soroka also suffered his first road loss of the season, spoiling what had been a 6-0 record.
He might have been rewarded if Donaldson had been able to cash in in the seventh. With Ozzie Albies driving in the Braves’ only run of the night with a ground-rule double which allowed Tyler Flowers to score, Atlanta looked poised to take full advantage of Toronto’s pitch-by-committee approach to this game.
Up against Law, Toronto’s sixth pitcher on the night, Donaldson might have felt confident, but after the right-hander intentionally walked Freeman to load the bases and worked Donaldson to a full count, Law got the out to end the threat.
The fact that Toronto used seven pitchers over the course of the game provides its own set of problems, Donaldson said afterwards.
“Just for the natural rhythm of the game, seeing a guy more than once, it helps, and today we didn’t really have that luxury,” he said.
Sean Newcomb replaced Soroka to begin the seventh inning. But Toronto wasted little time capitalizing on the left-hander’s less-than-stellar form of late. With an 8.18 ERA over Newcomb’s last 12 appearances, Smoak took full advantage of the reliever, driving the third pitch he saw over the left-field fence for his 20th home run; That restored the Blue Jays’ two-run advantage.
After the Braves scored just a solitary run for the second straight game, manager Brian Snitker said that he doesn’t expect his team’s offensive problems to last.
“We’re kind of in a collective rut here and it’s not one guy, it’s a whole team thing,” he said. “… Eventually it will turn.”
