Josh Donaldson, Johan Camargo homer to lead Braves over Blue Jays 6-3

Josh Donaldson hit his 34th homer of the season and the Atlanta Braves bullpen was able to hold on for a 6-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays Monday afternoon at SunTrust Park.

The Braves jumped out to an early lead as Ozzie Albies walked and came around to score on Donaldson’s home run off of Toronto starter Jacob Waguespack. That was Donaldson’s 25th since June 14th which is tied for the most in the majors over that span.

Atlanta would extend the lead in the third. Albies got things started again with another walk and quickly stole second. A groundout by Freddie Freeman moved Albies to third. Waguespack then issued back-to-back walks to Donaldson and Matt Joyce to load the bases. That would bring Dansby Swanson to the plate who grounded a ball into the hole that third baseman Brandon Drury was unable to handle. Albies and Donaldson scored on the play to increase the lead to 4-0.

Waguespack would exit after the fourth. He allowed just one hit but five walks and a pair of unearned runs let him down.

Mike Soroka got through the first three innings unscathed but Randal Grichuk tagged him for a solo homer in the fourth to cut the lead to 4-1. Soroka would run into more trouble in the fifth. Rowdy Tellez hit a pinch hit homer with one out in the fifth to make it 4-2. Bo Bichette followed with a walk and moved up to third on a double by Cavan Biggio. Grichuk would bring Bichette home with a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 4-3.

That would be the end of the night for Soroka who allowed five hits, three runs and two walks over five innings. He finished the game with six strikeouts while throwing 89 pitches.

Atlanta’s bullpen took over in the sixth. Josh Tomlin struck out two over a pair of perfect innings of relief while Shane Greene struck out one in a scoreless eighth.

The Braves would add some insurance in the bottom half of the frame. Donaldson reached on an error by Bichette and then came around to score on a pinch-hit two-run home run by Johan Camargo off of reliever Buddy Boshers that was lined into the visitor bullpen in left.

Mark Melancon slammed the door in the ninth striking out the side to nail down the win.

The Braves scored six runs despite totaling just four hits. Dansby Swanson went 2-for-4 in the game while Albies Walked and scored twice. Ronald Acuña Jr’s recent struggles continued as he was 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts.

With the win, Atlanta improves to 85-54 on the season and extend their winning streak to five straight games. They also increased their lead in the NL East standings to 6.5 games over the Nationals who suffered a 7-3 loss to the Mets on Sunday.

The Braves will go for series sweep on Tuesday with Mike Foltynewicz on the mound for Atlanta.