TORONTO – The term “killer instinct” is a hard one to describe in sports. It’s a soft skill, of sorts, that can’t really be quantified, or even properly put into words.
“I think it just means being able to show up every single day and be able to give everything that you have,” said Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman, trying his hand at a definition. “You know, 162 games is not easy.”
Adds centre-fielder Kevin Kiermaier: “First thought is a team that’s coming to the field truly expecting to win. You don’t care who you’re playing. You go out there and play your game every day and know that no one’s touching us.”
Kiermaier has been on teams with that type of vibe, most recently the 2021 Tampa Bay Rays, he says. That club won 11 straight — and 16 of 17 games — in May of 2021 and during that run, Kiermaier says a killer instinct was established.
“You develop confidence as a group and then there’s just a certain demeanour that’s there when you walk in and just look at guys — you get a head nod and you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re going to kill [the other team]. I guarantee it,’” said Kiermaier.
“You can just feel certain things like that at the moment. You watch guys in batting practice and just how everyone acts compared to on the other side when you don’t have a whole lot of confidence as a group. When you create that belief, man one through 26, coaching staff, everyone involved, it’s a beautiful thing to be a part of.”
That confidence became unshakeable within the Rays clubhouse, so much so that nobody was hanging their head the next month even when the team endured a seven-game losing streak that included four walk-off losses.
“It was just like, hey, those 11 games are what we’re capable of,” said Kiermaier of his team’s mentality during a campaign where it went on to amass 100 wins.
As far as vibes go, a similar type of confidence has been brimming in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse all season. Players have talked about it, as has manager John Schneider, and it was on display Sunday afternoon during a 6-5 walk-off win over the Atlanta Braves, completing a three-game sweep in front of 40,895 at Rogers Centre.
Having taken the first two games of the series from a Braves team that holds the best record in the National League, the Blue Jays could have easily been happy with that outcome. But busting out the brooms during a Mother’s Day contest is something that precisely falls into that description of killer instinct.
It was not a crisply played game by any means with several outfield misplays by the Braves outfield along with two errors by Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman. Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi was not at his best Sunday, surrendering plenty of hard contact along with three home runs — including a 114.1-m.p.h., second-deck rocket from Ronald Acuna Jr. to lead off the game. With his velocity slightly down across the board on a sunny, but chilly day under an open roof, Kikuchi was tagged for five runs, four earned, on nine hits over four-plus innings, walking none and striking out seven.
Down 2-0 in the second inning, the Blue Jays’ confidence as a lineup showed up with a quick strike inning that steamrolled from a Braves error. Second baseman Ozzie Albies backpedalled on a Whit Merrifield fly ball, then collided with right-fielder Acuna before dropping the ball. Merrifield got to second on the play, before the Blue Jays began to pour it on.
Brandon Belt cashed in Merrifield by slashing an RBI single to left field and after a Danny Jansen single, Santiago Espinal executed a perfect bunt into no-man’s land for a single that loaded the bases. George Springer grounded into a first-to-home double play, but Bo Bichette walked to again load the bases and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. smoked a 111-m.p.h. bullet up the middle for a two-run single that put the Blue Jays up 3-2. It was the 19th straight game in which Guerrero Jr. has reached base.
The Braves reclaimed the lead the next frame when a Matt Chapman error allowed Acuna to reach base. He was later driven home on an Ozzie Albies homer. Former Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar — who received a standing ovation from the Rogers Centre crowd earlier in the game — launched a home run to left field in the fourth to make it 5-3.
Springer cleared the fence in the fourth inning with his fifth homer of the season, cutting the Braves’ lead to 5-4. The Blue Jays threatened again in the sixth and seventh innings but weren’t able to push across a tying run.
In the ninth inning, the Blue Jays kept the pressure on, loading the bases with two-out off Braves reliever Raisel Iglesias. Danny Jansen ripped a single to left field that plated two runs to secure the win for the Blue Jays.
