TORONTO – Day after day, this Toronto Blue Jays winning streak seems to be on the verge of ending. Yet every time they come close to losing, they find their way back – often in improbable fashion.
On Wednesday, the Blue Jays gave up an eight-run lead only to rally for an 11-9 win against the New York Yankees. On Thursday, with the bullpen depleted, Chris Bassitt gutted through 113 pitches and the Blue Jays won again. On Friday, it was a walk-off sacrifice bunt in the tenth inning against the Los Angeles Angels.
Then, on Saturday, the game went into extra innings once again. With two out and the bases loaded in the 11th, Addison Barger lined a ball through the right side to score Myles Straw from third and give the Blue Jays yet another dramatic win.
Their seventh win in a row was also their seventh walk-off win of the season, and it extends the Jays’ AL East lead over the Rays, who lost, and the Yankees, who played the Mets Saturday. Despite an abbreviated start from Max Scherzer and a bullpen still running on fumes, Toronto got great relief pitching to set up its 51st win of the season.
As this hot streak has continued, players have talked openly about how much fun it is – and how they’re playing for one another, rather than individual stat lines. As the Blue Jays mobbed Barger near second base Saturday, yet another celebration ensued.
The Blue Jays took an early 3-2 lead thanks to yet another home run from George Springer – his fifth in the last five games. His 16th of the year cleared the centre field wall to bring home Nathan Lukes, who led off with Andres Gimenez on the bench due to a sore left ankle.
Any reasonable expectation of Springer would have accounted for decline in 2025, his age-35 season, and the fifth of six on his $150 million deal with the Blue Jays. But oddly enough, Springer’s now enjoying his best season with Toronto yet, with an OPS+ of 145 entering play Saturday.
Scherzer still managed to cover four innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out four. He topped out at 95 m.p.h. with his fastball, averaging 93.8 m.p.h., but never seemed to have his typical plus command.
The three-time Cy Young winner hit the first batter of the game with a pitch and would later walk three, including one with the bases loaded. How much his ongoing thumb soreness contributed to the lack of command wasn’t immediately clear, but he exited after just 72 pitches.
As of now, Scherzer’s next start would come six days from now against the Athletics in Sacramento on an extra day of rest. Following that, he’ll have at least a week off during the all-star break, allowing for further rest before the second half resumes.
Regardless, this start shows that Scherzer’s status remains tenuous for now. With that in mind, the Blue Jays will surely survey the market for starting pitching this month, because even with Eric Lauer pitching well and Alek Manoah rehabbing, the Blue Jays can’t afford to pass up the final chance to add starting pitching for the stretch run.
Once Scherzer left the game, the Blue Jays turned the ball over to Nick Sandlin, who pitched a scoreless fifth, and the recently promoted Lazaro Estrada, who excelled in his major league debut.
Pitching for the first time in a week and making his first relief appearance since 2023, Estrada gave the Blue Jays four innings out of the bullpen, allowing just one earned run on two hits. The 26-year-old Cuban struck out four Angels, including Jorge Soler for his first major-league strikeout.
After Estrada left the game, Braydon Fisher pitched for the fourth time in six days, providing the Blue Jays with two scoreless innings despite starting each frame with an automatic runner on second base.
On Sunday, Kevin Gausman will face Tyler Anderson as the Blue Jays look for their second sweep of the week.
