TORONTO - ATLANTA — Prior to Thursday’s game, Braves organist Matthew Kaminski played a rousing rendition of “Kumbaya,” perhaps in hopes that there would be no repeat of the overflowing tempers from the previous night.
There was plenty of reason for a call for peace, with two dugout-emptying incidents in Wednesday’s 8-4 Braves win and notably Jays reliever Aaron Loup hitting Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman with a fastball on the hand.
Freeman was placed on the DL on Thursday with a fractured wrist and is expected to miss 8-10 weeks. But the Braves slugger also tried to simmer the emotions by not blaming Loup for the pitch, a fastball clocked at 94 m.