Bad start for Norris, Braves beat Jays and Devon Travis left the game with bruised ribs

Braves 5 Blue Jays 2

We lost and Devon Travis was hurt....it can't get much worse than that. Travis took a pitch in the side, in the first inning, then diving back to first on a pickoff attempt by the Braves catcher, Christian Bethancourt, it seemed like Travis, maybe not hurt it more, but more found out how much the bruise from from the pitch hurt. The Blue Jays are saying it is just a bruise, no break. But then, they don't have the best track record for being right about these things. We are lucky tomorrow is an off-day.

Daniel Norris had a very tough, very bad day. Couldn't find the strike zone, most of the time and the rare time he did, it was hit hard. Gibby pulled him after just 2.2 innings. He gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, had 1 strikeout, giving up 5 runs, 4 earned. He's going to have to find some control soon or he'll be looking for it down in Buffalo.

He wasn't exactly helped by his defense. With 2 out and the bases leaded, Dalton Pompey misplayed a drive that was over his head. It went off his glove but he could have done a much better job of getting to it.

Then, in the third inning, after a Freddy Freeman one out walk, Chris Johnson singled to Pompey in center, Freeman, in what seemed like a bad choice, decided to go to third base, but Pompey airmailed his throw over third and Norris didn't do a great job backing up the play, so Freeman scored and Johnson got to third base. Then, a middling fly ball was hit to Kevin Pillar, but his throw home was wide of the plate and Russell Martin couldn't corral it to make the tag at home.

About the only help Norris got was a very nice throw from Martin to second on a strikeout/throw out caught stealing.

Marco Estrada (1.1 innings, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts), Jeff Francis (3.1 innings, 2 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts) and Roberto Osuna (1.2 clean innings) all had better luck on the mound. I didn't understand why Gibby pulled Estrada after just 1.1. If he could have gone another inning or so, Francis could have finished out the game and he could have rested Osuna.

On offense, we didn't do much. We only had 5 hits on the day.

We had a chance to score some in the first. There was the hit batter, then Jose Bautista took a one out walk, but Edwin Encarnacion hit into a double play. Edwin seems to always start slow but the sooner he can get things going, the better.

We finally scored against Shelby Miller in the 6th. With 2 outs, Bautista took another walk, Edwin followed with a hard hit single and Martin doubled them home. But that's all the scoring we got.

Martin had a good day behind the plate, getting the caught stealing and picking Jonny Gomes off second base in the 8th, but he hasn't been the savior for the pitching staff that we hoped he'd be, at least to this point in the season.

We have no Jays of the Day, by the numbers. Jeff Francis had the high number at .039 WPA. I'm going to give Martin an honorable mention for his two good throws and the 2-run double.

Suckage goes to Norris (-.309), Pillar (-.098, 0 for 4 and the poor throw) and Donaldson (-.098, 0 for 4). I'm also giving one to Pompey for missing that catch (which would have made it an entirely different game) and making the throwing error that cost us another run.

As mentioned, the Jays have tomorrow off and then we have the Orioles coming to town. Also, odds are there will be a roster move or two before Tuesday's game. Jose Reyes likely needing a turn on the DL.

You guys had a pretty good GameThread without me (while I was driving and swearing at the radio broadcast of the game). 739 comments. DangYouToHeck led the way, great work in a losing cause.