TORONTO – All the ingredients for another game to unravel and end in heartbreak for the Toronto Blue Jays were there in the seventh inning. Cedric Mullins ended Ross Stripling’s run of six perfect innings by lining his first pitch to centre for a base hit. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then bobbled Anthony Santander’s chopper, preventing him from getting the lead runner. Stripling, at 72 pitches in his return from the injured list, was done, leaving a man in scoring position for Yimi Garcia, the afternoon’s outcome very much hanging in the balance.
This time, the Blue Jays didn’t wilt at the moment of truth.
Bo Bichette, crucially, made a tremendous barehanded grab and throw on a Ryan Mountcastle chopper that immediately shifted control of the frame. Garcia followed by striking out Austin Hays and positive momentum followed into the bottom of the frame, when Teoscar Hernandez blooped in a one-out single, Bichette moved him to third with a perfectly executed hit-and-run and catharsis arrived when pinch-hitter George Springer lined a go-ahead RBI single.
That they poured it on from there – starting with a two-run double by Santiago Espinal, plating Springer, who first-pumped after sliding safely into home, and capped by Alejandro Kirk’s two-run double – made it feel all the more like a cleansing of two weeks’ worth of frustration.
Factoring in Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s bases-loaded walk during the rally, the six-run frame nearly matched their total output of seven runs over the previous three games. The 6-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday afternoon before 40,141, just their fourth win in 13 outings, was their most productive day at the plate since a 9-3 triumph at the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 4.
In avoiding a sweep by the Orioles (61-56), the Blue Jays (62-54) also secured their hold on a wild-card spot and gave themselves some positive vibes to carry into a four-game series against the struggling New York Yankees beginning Thursday in the Bronx.
Jose Berrios gets the ball in the opener there with a chance to ensure the victory becomes a turning point rather than a respite. Kevin Gausman is set to follow on Friday and it appears that Mitch White will get the ball Saturday instead of Yusei Kikcuhi, who didn’t walk to the dugout with the starters Wednesday and sat in the bullpen during the game.
Such a move is representative of the urgency of the moment for a Blue Jays team that’s acting like it understands its runway is running out.
Stripling’s return, of course, is the linchpin on that front and he couldn’t possibly have been more impactful.
From a dominant six-pitch first inning onwards, he kept the Orioles off balance by effectively locating his four-seamer and then discombobulating them with a changeup that generated six whiffs on 10 swings. A handful of sliders, sinkers and curveballs only added to the impressive mix and as the perfect innings piled up, it looked like he might leave interim manager John Schneider with a dilemma.
Stripling was at 67 pitches through six frames, the same number of pitches he’d thrown in a rehab outing for triple-A Buffalo last week, but between the right hip/glute strain that sidelined him and the all-star break, it had been July 13 since he’d last exceeded that mark.
How long to let him chase perfection, especially in a 0-0 game for an unsteady team, would have been a gut-wrenching call to make. But Mullins eliminated that from the mix with his single and it was all matching up in leverage from that point forward.
That the result broke the Blue Jays’ way was counter to their recent play, when they made a habit of finding ways to lose. On Wednesday, for a change, they found a way to win.
