Blue Jays suspend Pillar for slur

Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar was suspended two games Thursday for yelling an anti-gay slur at an Atlanta Braves pitcher.

The Blue Jays suspended Pillar without pay shortly after he apologized in a statement, saying he was “completely and utterly embarrassed” by the word he directed at Jason Motte. Pillar was angry at Motte for allegedly quick-pitching him to get a strikeout that ended the seventh inning Wednesday night in Atlanta’s 8-4 victory. Replays appeared to show Pillar using the slur as he shouted toward the mound. After what he described as a sleepless night, he acknowledgedhis wrongdoing.

Braves

First baseman Freddie Freeman has a fractured left wrist after he was hit by a pitch and is expected to miss about 10 weeks. Freeman was hit by Toronto’s Aaron Loup in the fifth inning Wednesday.

Elsewhere

Major League Baseball announced Facebook will carry a live game nationally each Friday starting with Colorado at Cincinnati this week. The Facebook package of 20 games will use the broadcast feed of one of the involved teams. ... Commissioner Rob Manfred remains hopeful the sport can play regular-season games in Europe for the first time in 2019. MLB had hoped to have European games in 2018 but decided there was not enough time to get plans in place.