While it would be nice for everything to immediately come together every year, it doesn’t seemingly work that way too often in the baseball world. Thus, there is a need for the patience the Braves will continue to show while hoping to steadily feel better about both their offense and pitching staff.
Max Fried enhanced some of the optimism as he delivered a second straight strong start since returning from the injured list. But his effort went for naught as a work-in-progress bullpen faltered again for the Braves in their 4-1 loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday night at Truist Park.
Teoscar Hernández’s seventh-inning leadoff homer off Luke Jackson sunk the Braves, who have lost the first two games of this series and each of the five played against the Blue Jays this year.
Hernández capped a two-homer performance and padded the Blue Jays’ lead with the 464-foot two-run homer he hit off Josh Tomlin in the ninth. His impressive blast traveled one foot longer than the monstrous shot Braves catcher William Contreras hit off Hyun-Jin Ryu in the fifth.
Jackson, who had produced a 1.38 ERA in his previous 14 appearances this year, allowed a homer on the first pitch thrown to Hernández.
While Jackson has been better than last year, the former closer should be given a lesser role once Chris Martin, who was activated from the injured list on Wednesday, and the recently-signed Shane Greene take their high-leverage spots in the bullpen.
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