{"id":716324,"date":"2026-06-05T06:03:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/716324\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T06:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:03:17","slug":"blue-jays-respond-to-significant-challenge-vs-braves-after-eventful-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/716324\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays respond to significant challenge vs. Braves after eventful week"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2013 All things considered, this has been quite a week for the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve played seven games since they left Toronto last week, winning three and losing four. On the surface: sounds pretty normal. In reality: not the case.<\/p>\n

There have been many firsts, like the first career home run for Charles McAdoo<\/a>, the first career save for Braydon Fisher<\/a>, the first career start for Adam Macko<\/a> and the first career appearance for Chad Dallas.<\/p>\n

The trip has also included low points, like a painful blown save by Jeff Hoffman in Baltimore, a fan throwing a baseball off Jesus Sanchez\u2019s hand and struggles from the likes of Austin Voth<\/a> and Hayden Juenger<\/a>, both jettisoned from the roster before they could get lockers at Rogers Centre.<\/p>\n

But while the trip included its share of emotional lows, there were some encouraging moments and few, if any, were bigger than the win over Chris Sale at Truist Park Thursday to take the series finale 7-2 and head back home 30-33.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of sums up our season in that there\u2019s a lot of stuff happening,\u201d manager John Schneider said. \u201cThere\u2019s been some weirdness to this trip. There\u2019s been some weirdness and randomness to this season. Now it\u2019s on to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly, there\u2019s more work ahead \u2013 and the upcoming homestand against the Orioles, Phillies and Yankees will provide immediate tests for a team still rolling with a three-man rotation and two bullpen games.<\/p>\n

But give the Blue Jays credit on two fronts Thursday. Not only did they find ways to get to Sale for three runs on ten hits, they limited the NL\u2019s best team to only three runs on a bullpen day built around Dallas, who earned his first big-league win in his debut with a range of emotions pushing toward the surface.<\/p>\n

Offensively, McAdoo drove in the first run of the game with a single up the middle against Sale, the future Hall of Famer who entered play with a 2.01 ERA. Soon afterwards, Myles Straw<\/a> drove in two with another single to centre and the Blue Jays had a lead they wouldn\u2019t relinquish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know how good he is,\u201d Straw said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s having a great year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t really get into two-strike counts with him. He\u2019s got some wipeout pitches. That backfoot slider\u2019s no joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUp and down the lineup, just a really good approach,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cWe were pesky and got some timely hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, you don\u2019t want to get swept,\u201d Straw added. \u201cGo home on a happy flight and turn the page to the next series.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Dallas, he impressed in a bulk role following opener Mason Fluharty<\/a>, covering 3.2 innings while allowing one run on two hits and recording the first two strikeouts of his career. It\u2019s been an emotional week for the 25-year-old right-hander, who learned on Lou Gehrig Day that he\u2019d be making his MLB debut.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially significant for Dallas, who lost his father to ALS in 2025.<\/p>\n

“It was extremely special, like a little God wink,\u201d Dallas said. \u201cI dreamed of this day since I was three or four years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Tons of emotions. Sad. Tons of happy. Super-excited. But overall, it was an amazing experience.”<\/p>\n

A strong contingent of friends and family was on site Thursday to watch him pitch opposite Sale.<\/p>\n

“Very cool,” Dallas said. “I’ll remember that for a long time.”<\/p>\n

As for what\u2019s next, Schneider declined to speculate on how Dallas will be used, but he has now proven himself clearly capable of covering multiple innings at the MLB level when needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were banking on the character and the confidence and the stuff,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cHe was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Dallas exited, the Blue Jays turned to their leverage relievers and Tyler Rogers<\/a>, Hoffman, Fisher and Louis Varland<\/a> combined to allow just one run \u2013 a Mauricio Dubon solo shot off Fisher \u2013 in four innings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bullpen did an amazing job,\u201d Straw said. \u201cThey just killed it, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the Blue Jays\u2019 rotation, reinforcements are on the way, starting with Simeon Woods Richardson<\/a>, the former Blue Jays prospect who was acquired from the Twins Wednesday. While Woods Richardson was a credible back-end starter from 2024-25, he has a 7.74 ERA this season and opposing hitters are batting at least .315 on each of his three most-used pitches.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays may look to nudge Woods Richardson away from his splitter \u2013 the worst pitch in MLB this season, according to Baseball Savant\u2019s pitch run values \u2013 but it\u2019s possible he\u2019s more than one adjustment away.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Dylan Cease<\/a> continues pushing closer to the majors, with Max Scherzer and Shane Bieber<\/a> not far behind him. Pitching in a rehab outing at triple-A Thursday, Cease threw 75 pitches while allowing five runs on six hits and striking out six.<\/p>\n

Still three games under .500, the Blue Jays are not yet where they need to be. At least they return home still in the playoff mix and having responded well to a significant challenge in Sale.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys are starting to click as a team,\u201d Straw said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s all that really matters.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2013 All things considered, this has been quite a week for the Toronto Blue Jays. They\u2019ve played…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-716324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}