The visiting Milwaukee Brewers and the Toronto Blue Jays, who both struggled in May, hope the finale of their three-game series on Thursday afternoon begins a better month.
The Brewers evened the series with a 4-2 victory on Wednesday and finished May with a 11-16 record.
The loss dropped the Blue Jays to 11-17 for May.
The Brewers got a two-run home run from Abraham Toro, his first hit with Milwaukee after he was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, and a two-run double from Owen Miller. Right-hander Julio Teheran allowed only an unearned run in six efficient innings.
Toro is from Longueuil, Quebec, and it was the third home run that he has hit in seven career games in Toronto.
"(Toronto's Alek Manoah) threw me a fastball in," said Toro, who spent his first 2 1/2 seasons with the Houston Astros and the past 1 1/2 with the Seattle Mariners. "I just tried to keep it simple, keep it short, and I was lucky enough to hit it out."
He had about six family members who made the drive from Quebec to attend the game.
"It's always great (to play in Canada)," said Toro, who also hit a single. "Every time I come here, my family's here so I'm always glad to do something special in front of them."
The Blue Jays are scheduled to start right-hander Kevin Gausman (3-3, 3.03 ERA) on Thursday. In five career games (three starts) against the Brewers, he is 1-0 with a 2.05 ERA.
Right-hander Freddy Peralta (5-4, 4.64 ERA) is slated to start for the Brewers. He has never faced the Blue Jays.
The loss on Wednesday was a return to reality for the Blue Jays hitters, who have been scuffling as a group recently. They had 14 hits in a 7-2 win on Tuesday, but 13 were singles and not all were hit hard.
The Blue Jays had seven hits on Wednesday, including two doubles from Matt Chapman. Kevin Kiermaier, who left the Saturday game after two innings due to a sore back, returned to the lineup on Wednesday and contributed an RBI triple.
Toronto, however, went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position, extending a recurring problem.
Manoah continued to struggle on Wednesday, allowing two runs in four tedious innings in which he threw 89 pitches.
"Yeah, it's been tough, obviously," Manoah said. "Not doing what I'm meant to be doing. So I've just got to keep fighting. Keep finding positives and building off them."
Blue Jays manager John Schneider added, "Leading off the game with a walk didn't help. But I think his overall mindset and his competitiveness kind of kicked in a little bit after that."
Brewers first baseman Rowdy Tellez was 0-for-4 in his first start at Toronto since the Blue Jays traded him to Milwaukee in July 2021.
He was 0-for-2 in the series opener on Tuesday after entering the game as a pinch hitter. Tellez received a loud ovation from the Toronto crowd in that contest.
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