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Series Recap: Blue Jays lose series to Braves to end road trip
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Photo credit: © Mady Mertens-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jun 5, 2026, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 5, 2026, 11:24 EDT
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It hasn’t happened often over the past month and a half, but the Toronto Blue Jays have lost a series.
Finishing up their road trip in Georgia, the Blue Jays took on the Atlanta Braves, dropping two of three to the team with the best record in Major League Baseball. By dropping two of three, the Blue Jays are now three games below .500, but at least they snapped a losing streak.
Tuesday’s game followed their first off-day after a stretch of 17 consecutive days with a game. Kevin Gausman gave up a lead-off walk in the bottom of the first, and Michael Harris II drove the run in. A sacrifice fly later that inning put the Braves up 2-0.
The Blue Jays responded in the top of the second, as Kazuma Okamoto hit a two-run home run, his team-leading 13th home run of the season. In the bottom of the third, the Braves restored their lead thanks to a two-out double and single, but the Blue Jays managed to tie the game in the top of the sixth.
That was the final run scored by the Jays in this game, as the Braves immediately answered back in the bottom half of the inning, thanks to a solo shot courtesy of Matt Olson. The Blue Jays got the lead-off runner on in the seventh, eighth, and ninth, with their best chance to tie it coming in the ninth. Unfortunately, both Andrés Giménez and Jesús Sánchez popped out with two on to end the game.
It wasn’t Kevin Gausman’s best start, going six innings, giving up four runs and walking two. He managed to strike out eight and give the Blue Jays’ high-leverage relievers another day off, at least.
Looking to avoid the series loss on Wednesday, the Blue Jays got the first three runners on bases, setting up a bases loaded opportunity for Sánchez. While he drove in a run, he did so by grounding into a double play, killing the Blue Jays momentum.
The Braves tied the game in the bottom of the second, then Nathan Lukes restored the one-run lead thanks to his first home run of the season. It was all downhill from there, though, as the Braves scored three thanks to one swing of the bat in the third. The Blue Jays stranded two in the top of the fourth, the last time they’d manage a hit until the top of the eighth.
In that span, the Braves extended their lead to 7-2 thanks to a three-run bottom of the seventh. Brandon Valenzuela hit his fifth home run of the season in the top of the ninth, but it was far too little, far too late for the Blue Jays.
Left-handed pitching has given the Blue Jays problems all season, so expectations weren’t high in Thursday’s series finale against Chris Sale. However, they had him on the ropes in both the first and second inning, before finally breaking through for three runs in the top of the third, thanks to an RBI single by Charles McAdoo and a two RBI single by Myles Straw.
The Braves responded immediately, but the score stood at 3-1 until the bottom of the eighth, when Braydon Fisher gave up a solo home run. Louis Varland got the final out of the eighth, but the Blue Jays scored four in the top of the ninth for a comfortable 7-2 victory.
Now three games below .500, the Jays have a chance of reaching .500 this weekend, as they host the Baltimore Orioles for three games. The last time they were .500, last weekend, they took the first two against their American League East rival.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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