NEW YORK – The crazy nature of baseball is such that a talented team can look completely bewildered at the plate or on the mound for an extended period, play a good game and then suddenly find their form as if a switch had been flipped .
The Toronto Blue Jays may be experiencing a change in fortunes, although with two straight wins following Thursday night’s 9-2 rout of the New York Yankees, they’re not out of the woods just yet.
Still, it’s hard to reconcile how different they looked in defeating the American League East leaders compared to a 4-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles two nights earlier. In that game, his approach at the plate was inconsistent and uncertain, Alek Manoah seemed to be facing both the Orioles and the inevitability that something was going wrong, and the collective frustration was palpable. Catharsis came Wednesday during a 6-1 victory over the Orioles thanks to a six-run seventh inning, breaking a 0-0 tie and making sure a brilliant start by Ross Stripling didn’t go to waste.
The question Thursday was whether the good vibes would carry with them to the Bronx, or whether the Yankees, 8-7 winners Wednesday over the Tampa Bay Rays on Josh Donaldson’s grand slam, would keep the vibes going.
From the jump, the Blue Jays took control against Frankie Montas, whom the Yankees traded away before the trade deadline, building a comfortable lead with a five-run second in support of Jose Berrios, who was the best dominant in 6.2 innings. .
It was his most complete game in two weeks.
“That’s why baseball is so crazy,” said Matt Chapman, whose double in the second helped set up the pivotal outburst. “When you might not feel good in a particular stretch and you don’t feel like you’re hitting well, a good swing can turn all that around. In baseball, it seems like bad stretches are long and hard, and then a game like this one at night can change everything with a snap of the fingers. That said, you have to go back and do it tomorrow.”
George Springer continues to be a catalyst in his return from the disabled list, picking up five hits, including a two-out RBI single in the second that made it 2-0 and preceded Vladimir Guerrero’s three-run shot Jr. .
The offense continued to pour from there, with Alejandro Kirk hitting an RBI double in the fifth and adding a sacrifice bunt in the seventh in front of a two-run double by Teoscar Hernandez. Every starter reached base and six different players crossed the plate.
With a combined 15 runs in the two wins, the Blue Jays outscored their previous six outings, in which they totaled just 14 runs. They had enough breathing room to let Yusei Kikuchi make his debut in relief and after allowing the first two batters to reach, he retired the next three to escape the eighth.
“You have to go the course a little bit and understand that these are very talented players and it’s a very good offense and know that it’s going to change,” interim coach John Schneider said. “Right now, in the last 24 hours, it’s a little different, a different feeling. But that’s what we’re capable of every night.”
All the offense was enough for Berrios, who limited the damage during a messy third that had all kinds of potential here we go again with the kind of steel that has waned him in this unusual season. He ran into trouble by walking Jose Trevino and striking out Estevan Florial to open the inning and then allowed a run to cross when he singled to DJ LeMahieu.
Berrios singled right after, holding Aaron Judge on a scorer’s fielder’s choice before striking out Anthony Rizzo and bringing in a Donaldson flyout. He wasn’t threatened again from there, leaving a restless crowd of 41,419 to vent their disappointment at the Yankees.
“That inning reminded me of my last two outings because that’s when I got hurt,” Berrios said of the third. “So I said this could happen again, I just tried to stay in the game, execute my pitches and I did. I threw quality pitches against Judge and got out of that jam.”
Schneider said: “Amazing. We’ve seen him go the other way at times with him and everybody else. … Just for him to block it again and settle in, I thought that was the turning point of the game . His composure was tremendous.”
Now, for the Blue Jays to maintain an extended run, they will need many more outings like this one from Berrios, who has had a Jekyll-and-Hyde year with 16 outings of three or less and seven of five or more. in 24 departures.
The degree of variation has caused a lot of head scratching among coaches and staff, who have been unable to identify any significant changes to explain the changes. No matter, outings like this are what Berrios is capable of on a regular basis, and if he’s right, the Blue Jays can really take off.
“This is a great outlet for him to build on,” Chapman said. “Everyone has had their ups and downs and suffered in their own way. To see good things like that, a good inning by Kikuchi, a scoreless inning, can help us build these last 45 games that we have. There is still a lot of season left and many good things can happen.”
From the depths of Tuesday to the joy of Thursday, the Blue Jays are showing that.