Olson homers, Elder bounces back to lead Braves past Blue Jays 4-3

ATLANTA (AP) — Matt Olson hit a tiebreaking homer, Bryce Elder bounced back from his worst start of the season, and the Atlanta Braves defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Olson’s towering shot barely cleared the right-field wall, snapping a 3-3 deadlock in the sixth inning. It was his 17th homer of the season.

Elder (5-3) went 6 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and three runs. It was a big improvement over his last appearance, when he was rocked for nine hits and six runs in 3 1/3 innings of an 8-0 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Kazuma Okamoto hit a two-run homer for the Blue Jays, who have lost three in a row.

Kevin Gausman and the Blue Jays kept Ronald Acuña Jr. in the park after the Atlanta slugger hit five homers over the four previous games. But Olson’s long ball pushed baseball’s best record to 41-20.

Gausman (4-4) took the loss despite another deep start. He surrendered five hits and four runs with eight strikeouts in six innings — the 12th time in 13 starts that he’s lasted at least five.

Atlanta jumped ahead with two runs in the first. Acuña led off with a walk and came all the way around to score on a double by Michael Harris Jr. to the centre-field wall. Harris moved to third on a grounder and came home on Ozzie Albies’ sacrifice fly.

Albies drove in another run with a single in the third to give the Braves a 3-2 lead.

Neither edge stood up. Okamoto hit his 13th homer in the second to tie it up. Daulton Varsho pulled the Blue Jays even again with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Robert Suarez got the final out in the seventh and tacked on a scoreless eighth before Raisel Iglesias worked around two singles in the ninth for his 11th save in as many chances.

UP NEXT

The Braves will send RHP Grant Holmes (3-2, 3.95 ERA) to the mound Wednesday against Blue Jays LHP Patrick Corbin (2-1, 3.65) in the second of a three-game set.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Paul Newberry, The Associated Press