Coming into June, the Toronto Blue Jays felt like a team on the brink – a squad that was primed for a shake-up after stumbling out of the gates and struggling to find any measure of consistency on the field.
Fourteen days later, they’re a game out of first place in the American League East and the hottest team in Major League Baseball having earned a three-game sweep in Boston over the weekend and once again, the way Toronto got it done was a testament to how teams that are running hot just seem to find a way to pick up victories.
Friday’s opener saw the Jays down 8-4 heading into the top half of the seventh after Drew Hutchison got slapped around for eight runs in two-and-a-third before they grabbed three off Matt Barnes, five off Junichi and one more for good measure off Tommy Layne to go up 13-8 in what ended up being a 13-10 victory.
Saturday, Toronto needed extras to extend its winning streak, edging the Red Sox 5-4 in 11 innings after Russell Martin deposited one over the center field wall off Barnes in the top half. After giving up a run the previous night, Brett Cecil came in and pitched a clean final frame to pick up his fourth save of the season.
In yesterday’s finale, the Jays got five RBIs from second baseman Ryan Goins out of the nine hole, another solid start from Marco Estrada and four innings of solid relief from the tandem of Ryan Tepera and Phil Coke, who gave up two walks and struck out two in his first appearance with the club. Toronto ended up winning the game 13-5 to push its record to 34-30 on the season as they head into a quick two-game set with the New York Mets on Monday and Tuesday.
We’ve been saying it throughout they’re run, but it bears repeating: when teams are playing well and having success, these breaks seem to come my frequently.
Friday was a perfect night for the winning streak to end – down four with three to play on the road – but rather than pack it in, the Jays put a nine-spot on the scoreboard and sealed up a victory. The same goes for Saturday’s extra innings contest, where Toronto squandered a 4-0 lead to land even after six before Martin secured the victory by putting one over the fence in the top half of the 11th.
If you need further proof, Goins’ series is a microcosm of what can happen when you’re swinging a hot bat and things are falling in your favour.
The second baseman had one hit for the month of June prior to arriving in Boston for Friday’s opener, which came in the second game of what is now an 11-game winning streak. He went 0-for-Houston, didn’t play the first game in Miami and put up another bagel in the final two games of that sweep.
He then exploded to go 6-for-14 (.429) with nine RBI over the three-game series at Fenway. Despite having a monstrous series, he still only batting .235 with 22 RBI on the year, so it’s not like this weekend’s hot streak was a return to the norm.
It was an aberration that comes when a team is clicking and Toronto will happily continue to take it as long as the baseball Gods want to give them out.
The Week Ahead: It’s seven games in seven days to bring the “consecutive games without a day off” streak up to eight before next week kicks off. The run begins with a four-game home-and-home with the Metropolitans (two on the road, then two in Toronto) before Baltimore arrives for three over the weekend.
