TORONTO — The topic of scoreboard watching came up when John Schneider met with media in his office on Friday afternoon and the Toronto Blue Jays manager was asked how many times per game he peeks at what’s happening in the out-of-town contests.
“That’s a good question,” Schneider responded. “I would say, honest answer, I look five or six times a game.”
What happens in the Yankees’ three-game set with the Orioles could help determine whether the Blue Jays capture the American League East crown along with a bye to the division series. And, in a span of mere minutes early Friday evening, New York went up on a home run by Giancarlo Stanton while Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber surrendered consecutive homers to Rays hitters.
Given that action and how the rest of the games unfolded, Schneider wouldn’t be faulted for glancing over to the left-field scoreboard a few more times than usual.
However, while the Yankees ended up defeating the Orioles, 8-4, at Yankee Stadium, the skipper could at least rest a little easier as the Blue Jays held serve with a 4-2 win over the Rays in front of an electric 42,184 crowd at Rogers Centre.
Nathan Lukes broke a tie in the fifth inning when he deposited a changeup from Adrian Houser into the right-centre field stands for a two-run homer that stood up as the winner. With George Springer at first base, Schneider called for a hit-and-run on the 1-0 pitch to Lukes that he belted an estimated 399 feet.
Asked where that swing ranked amongst others in his life, Lukes, who spent a decade in the minors, laughed.
“Oh, geez. Right now, number one, because of where it led,” Lukes said.
“For a guy that, you forget, doesn’t have that much time in the league and has been through a lot and worn out the minor leagues and been on plenty of buses, he’s been great,” said Schneider. “He’s been steady, obviously proved he can play this level and pretty cool hit-and-run, two-run homer from him. Not many people can do that.”
The victory improved the Blue Jays’ record to 92-68 and made sure they kept pace with the Yankees atop the East. Toronto owns the tiebreaker and continued to play the game of attrition, allowing another day to pass in the calendar while sitting in first place. Their magic number for a division title is now two games, meaning the Blue Jays could clinch on Saturday if they win and the Yankees lose.
Schneider noted he’s working off the assumption that the Yankees would win all three of their remaining games, a scenario that puts the onus on the Blue Jays to take care of their own business. They did that on Friday, beginning with Bieber.
The right-hander, making his seventh start of the season, allowed homers to Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda in the second but recovered to keep the Rays off the scoreboard for the rest of his five-inning outing.
Bieber struggled with his command yet made big pitches to escape jams in both the fourth and fifth innings. In total, he allowed the two runs on five hits, walking two and striking out three across 90 pitches (57 strikes).
“He just navigated,” said Schneider. “It kind of shows you how good he is to understand what he needs to do at any given moment.”
Rookie left-hander Mason Fluharty entered the game in relief of Bieber and carved up the Rays lineup, striking out four over two perfect innings.
“Shout out to Flu,” Bieber said. “Two big innings. I would love to go more than five and he picked me up big time there to get us through the seventh. It was a big team win tonight.”
The Blue Jays’ bullpen carried a heavy load for the second straight game as Tommy Nance, Brendon Little and Jeff Hoffman — who walked two batters in a nervy ninth — also kept the Rays off the board.
“Whoever you call on, you got to be ready to just do what you’re capable of doing,” said Schneider. “For Tommy and Flu, especially, who didn’t break camp with us, pretty cool to see them not really waver in some big spots. It’s not an easy task to do.
“Those two examples, really, it’s just kind of what we’ve been saying all year,” he continued. “It’s just use what you have and what you’re good at in the situations that you’re asked to do it and on to the next guy.”
After dropping six of seven games, the Blue Jays have now won two straight and the possibility of popping more champagne bottles is ever so close.
“We went through a little skid,” said Lukes. “Every team does it, but I feel like we’re getting back to the roots. Getting back to just kind of passing the baton on to the next guy.”
Rookie Trey Yesavage will receive the baton on Saturday as he makes his first start at Rogers Centre in just the third outing of his major-league career.
Schneider’s gaze will be fixed on that, of course. But again, don’t blame him if his eyes stray.
“You got to just keep on keeping on,” he said. “You can’t really worry about what’s going on, as hard as it is. I’ve been pretty honest with you guys. It’s hard. But you got another game tomorrow.”
