Donaldson puts on a brolly good show in Braves victory
Under my umbrella ella-ella-eheh. (Courtesy of Rihanna.)
What began as a simulated GIF for Josh Donaldson — once upon a time the Bringer of Rain for Toronto — has turned into a delightful real thing in his slugger resurrection as a Brave. A jack over the wall and an umbrella held aloft as a prop in a dash through the dugout afterward. Why didn’t we think of that? Last week, in his return to the Rogers Centre, Donaldson clearly wanted to put on a longball show, swinging for the fences but going 0-for-7 through a pair of games.
Didn’t take long for the third baseman to do damage in a Monday matinee at Sun Trust Park, though, with an oppositefield, two-run shot off starter Jacob Waguespack in the first inning, pouncing on a misplaced fastball fat and juicy over the middle.
On a torrid afternoon in Atlanta — 39 C at opening pitch — Donaldson also scored two other runs in a 6-3 dispatch of the visitors, some 24 hours after the Blue Jays had been no-hit by Justin Verlander at home.
Weird pitching line for Waguespack, who took the loss: four runs, two earned, on just one hit through four innings. Five walks explains it, including three in the third, which also included a Brandon Drury boot.
Free passes and a brace of errors told the tale, manager Charlie Montoyo said. “Somehow, I don’t know how, we managed to stay in the game until the end. The pitchers did a good job in relief, they kept us in the game. But most of the time, when you do that against good teams, you’re just not going to win the game.”
While Toronto dinged Calgaryborn Braves starter Mike Soroka for five hits across five innings — including homers by Randal Grichuk and Rowdy Tellez —they were shut down by the Atlanta bullpen.
The Braves sealed things in the eighth when Bo Bichette botched a routine ground ball that rolled up his arm, putting Donaldson on base, and Johan Camargo followed with a pinchhit two-run homer.
So, a nice piece of Labour Day labour for Donaldson, now at 34 home runs and closing in on his career best of 41. That umbrella shtick, he emphasized, didn’t spring out of his brain. “The guys have kind of taken off with it. It’s pretty cool. I like it but there is no way I could have ever come up with that.”
He extended accolades to the bullpen, however.
“To just put enough runs up there for these guys to close the door, it’s been pretty awesome to watch.”
Bullpen footnote: Following Donaldson’s lead, and with Atlanta burning, some relievers broke open the parasols waiting for the call. á Short with the other circuit: With the defeat, Toronto became the first team in majorleague history to lose 16 games in interleague play in one season. The Jays could break their own record in the back end of this two-game Tuesday, when
the Braves send right-hander Mike Foltynewicz to the mound against … um ... “We honestly don’t know,” Montoyo said. “An opener and a guy.”
á You look familiar: Righthander Ryan Tepera, on the bump for the Jays for the first time since May 20, got the ball for the seventh, walked Rafael Ortega, struck out Charlie Culberson, threw over second base attempting to nail Ortega on the steal, then finished his outing by striking out Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies ... The Jays reinstated left-hander Clayton Richard, who hasn’t pitched since July 13. The 35year-old missed the first eight weeks of the season with a stress reaction in his right knee and the past seven weeks with a left lat strain ... Left-hander Thomas Pannone was recalled from Triple-A.
á Coming up: The Jays had yet to confirm their September roster fattening late Monday. But it was expected the call-ups would include outfielders Jonathan Davis and Anthony Alford, and up-down shortstop Richard Urena. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reported pitchers Anthony Kay and T.J. Zeuch would join the team as well. Kay was part of the return from the Mets in the trade deadline chucking of Marcus Stroman. Zeuch threw a no-hitter for Buffalo on Aug. 19.