Every year in baseball, Jackie Robinson Day is used as a celebration for the man who broke barriers in the sport and helped pave the way for where the game is today. For the Toronto Blue Jays, they were looking to celebrate Jackie Robinson day in the best way possible, with a bounce back win at home after being blown out the day before by Atlanta 8-4. After being handed a brutal loss in the first game back home, Toronto sent Kevin Gausman to the hill to try and shut down the Brave’s bats and give his team a chance to even the series.

This game got off to a similar start to the previous one, with Atlanta getting on the board first thanks to Austin Riley hitting his third homerun of the series to put the Braves on top 1-0 in the first inning. Gausman was able to compose himself afterwards, and put on a strong game throughout the rest of his outing.

The Jays managed to even the score in the bottom of the third inning, when Alan Roden doubled to begin the inning and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove him in with an infield fielder’s choice.

No scoring would be done from either side until the bottom of the fifth inning, and this is where the Blue Jays opened the floodgates and dominated the offensive side of the ball. The inning began with a bang when Alan Roden launched a two-run homer to right field, that brought the game to 3-1 for Toronto. Next up was Anthony Santander, who after a couple runners were on the corners with still no outs, blasted a three-run homer to the same part of right. The two homers capped off a five run inning, and the Jays had blown the game wide open making it a 6-1 lead.

Atlanta came back with a bit of offence in response, as Matt Olson would hit a solo homer in the top half of the sixth, but there was still much left to do after the Jay’s big inning and the game was now set at 6-2.

Toronto couldn’t muster any more runs in the ballgame, but they wouldn’t end up needing any as the Braves only scored a single extra run in the top of the ninth and the Jays closed out the game with an impressive 6-3 win.

Toronto had made up for the blowout loss by coming up with a dominant win for themselves, evening the series leading up to the rubber match on Wednesday.

Winner: Toronto Blue Jays (10-8)

Loser: Atlanta Braves (5-12)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:

A. Roden: 2/3, HR, 2RBI

A. Santander: 2/4, HR, 3RBI

V. Guerrero Jr:0/2, 2BB, 1RBI

PITCHERS:

Win – K. Gausman: 6.0IP, 6H, 2ER, 6K (2-1)

Loss – S. Schwellenbach: 4.2IP, 6H, 6ER, 3K (1-1)