TORONTO — Trusting good process in the face of bad outcomes can be difficult when there are plenty of games left and time for results to normalize, let alone when the schedule’s end is nigh and a season of work is at stake each time out. As the pressure rises, there’s temptation to fidget and tweak in pursuit of an immediate result.
“That’s the thing, when it comes to these games, guys like to change what they do for some reason. When you’ve had success or not, whatever, I don’t see why you would change at all,” centre-fielder George Springer said in the Toronto Blue Jays dugout Wednesday afternoon. “You can’t play on emotion. You have to play on an even keel all night.”
Hours later, a wild 6-5 victory over the New York Yankees settled on an eighth-inning Bo Bichette thunderbolt to right-centre field that was his second homer of the night, put those very words to the test.
The Blue Jays battered Gerrit Cole for a 4-0 lead and Jose Berrios dominated through 4.2 innings before the American League wild-card leaders, who had been riding a seven-game win streak, stormed back to tie the game 5-5 in the seventh.
As their playoff hopes teetered on the brink, Adam Cimber survived a 10-pitch duel with Anthony Rizzo in the top of the eighth, induced a weak grounder to the mound from Aaron Judge and then spiked pulses on a 107.9 m.p.h. Giancarlo Stanton rocket Springer chased down in centre.
That set the stage for Bichette, who shot a middle-in sinker from Clay Holmes over the wall to electrify a crowd of 29,601 that clamoured for a curtain call he subtly obliged.
Those fans, as loud and boisterous as any crowd since the playoff runs of 2015 and 2016, remained on their feet while Jordan Romano nailed things down in the ninth.
A night after the Blue Jays dropped a 7-2 decision when Rizzo tied the game on a nearly impossible-to-hit pitch from Hyun Jin Ryu and Stanton turned a Trevor Richards changeup heading toward the dirt into a three-run homer, the rebound rewarded faith in process.
The win moved the Blue Jays (88-70) within two games of the Yankees (90-68) and moved them a half-game back of the Boston Red Sox (88-69), pending their game at Baltimore. They also pulled even with the Seattle Mariners (88-70), who were playing Oakland.
Bichette’s homers gave him 101 RBIs on the season, tied with Marcus Semien, who earlier in the game hit a two-run homer, his 44th, to establish a new record for second basemen. Combined with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Tesocar Hernandez, they gave the Blue Jays four batters with 100 RBIs for the first time in franchise history.
