TORONTO – Between the trade deadline, 17 games in 17 days within a wider run of 30 in 31, capped by a challenging homestand against the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, this just completed stretch could easily have broken the Toronto Blue Jays.
Instead, by “embracing what we’re good at right now,” in the words of John Schneider, they produced a run of 13 wins in 20 games and a 5-2 homestand against a pair of AL East rivals capped by Sunday afternoon’s 4-3 loss in 10 innings to the New York Yankees. “Sometimes it doesn’t look the sexiest,” the manager added, “but we’re OK with that” especially after they’ve not only pulled themselves into the thick of a congested wild-card race, but restored control of their own fate, too.
A needed off-day arrives Monday before a six-game trip to the East-leading Tampa Bay Rays and weekend return set at the Yankees, and their remaining schedule beyond that includes only sub-.500 clubs, including series with Seattle, Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore and Texas – teams they’re fighting for a post-season berth.
That means in the muddled mix of contending clubs, the Blue Jays (61-65) no longer need help from others to reach October.
What they do with that opportunity is up to them.
Their margins remain delicately thin as evidenced Sunday, when a Jose Cabellero RBI single in the seventh off Brendon Little, cashing in a George Lombard Jr. double that ended another strong Dylan Cease outing, was nearly enough to make the Blue Jays pay for a series of missed opportunities.
Ryan Weathers allowed just one run – on a Daz Cameron RBI double in the fifth – over 7.1 innings, but was helped by three double plays that killed rallies: George Springer hitting into a 6-4-3 in the fourth; Cameron running into an out at third after Andres Gimenez’s groundout in the fifth; and Alejandro Kirk, after not challenging a potential Ball 4, rolling into another 6-4-3 in the sixth.
Still, a signature of their current streak has been the constant pressure they put on opponents and that bore fruit in the ninth, when Ben Rice muffed a Josh Smith chopper, Kirk followed with a walk, the runners advanced on a David Bednar wild pitch and Ernie Clement brought Smith home with a sacrifice fly that tied the game 2-2.
They left the potential winning run at second base, though, and that was costly in the bottom half when Braydon Fisher, pitching for the fourth time in six days and sixth in nine days, gave up Rice’s go-ahead two-run homer.
Scrappy as the Blue Jays’ offence has been, the slug they’ve sought all season long remained elusive, as they hit just two homers during the homestand, after seven during the three-city, seven-game road trip beforehand.
In the absence of the type of instant offence the Yankees depend upon, the Blue Jays need to be especially opportunistic with runners in scoring position, and while Gimenez delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th, there wasn’t another big swing to follow that up.