TORONTO — The margins in the American League wild-card race are thin enough right now that the one-game swing between 10-5 and 9-6 through this just-concluded 15-game schedule soft spot for the Toronto Blue Jays makes a big difference.
They fell on the right side of that ledger Sunday thanks to a funky 5-2 victory that completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals. Jose Berríos shoved for seven innings while the offence was gifted a pair of runs on back-to-back walks and three consecutive wild pitches by Cole Ragans in the sixth before Kevin Kiermaier homered in the seventh to deliver the decisive blow.
Run-scoring singles by Santiago Espinal, on a clever safety squeeze, and Cavan Biggio padded the lead in the eighth, helping send the Blue Jays (80-63) into a four-game series beginning Monday against the visiting Texas Rangers (78-64) in sole possession of the American League’s second wild card.
The Seattle Mariners (79-64), 6-3 losers at Tampa Bay, are a game back while the Rangers remained 1.5 games off the pace thanks to a 9-4 win over visiting Oakland.
“I love the last three games, sweeps are hard no matter who you are playing,” said manager John Schneider. “Probably left a couple on the table on the road. But the vibe and the energy with which they're playing is really, really contagious and infectious. They all know it’s a big series. It’s easy to look past today after you win the series yesterday with Texas coming. Really, really tough pitcher in Ragans, but love the way they found a way to do it.”
It hasn’t always been pretty over the past 2½ weeks but the Blue Jays have survived injuries to Bo Bichette (who has since returned), Matt Chapman (who is building up for a potential return late in the week) and Danny Jansen (who won’t return in the regular season after surgery on his broken finger) and fought back from a 3.5-game deficit in the wild-card race to regain control of their fate.
“You find out who the gamers are in September,” said Keirmaier. “The teams who want it the most are going to get their foot in the door and win. What a great opportunity we have ahead of us.”
Without a doubt, but the final three weeks of the season may very well turn out to be the Blue Jays’ toughest. After the four games with the Rangers, the Boston Red Sox check in for three games before they face the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees six times each, three at home, three away, to close out the campaign.
The true test, then, looms.
“We know who we're playing. We know who we're up against. We know the position we're in, the position other teams are in, no doubt about it, but it's not like we sit here and talk about it,” said Kiermaier, who feels the Blue Jays simply need to stay at their current level. “We know that we've got a really good thing going on right now. We've come with a lot more energy the last week and a half and played really well doing that. And it doesn't matter who we are playing, we know that the more we win the better position we put ourselves in. It's been an important stretch for a while now. It's going to be like that until the last day of the season. I have all the confidence in the world in us and I love where everyone's at right now.”
The Blue Jays were no lock to finish off the sweep.
Berríos cruised through the first five before Kyle Isbel opened the sixth with a triple. After Maikel Garcia walked and was thrown out trying to steal second, Bobby Witt Jr. hooked a changeup that ran back over the plate into the left-field corner for a double that opened the scoring.
Witt then proceeded to steal third, despite Berríos picking it up and throwing to second, sliding in ahead of the relay to third, and scored on Salvador Perez’s infield chopper.
Ragans, who had run his scoreless innings streak to 26 with a fastball that sat at 98 m.p.h. and ruthless changeup, looked set to make the 2-0 lead hold in the bottom half, getting George Springer to fly out and striking out Bichette. But chaos followed consecutive walks to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Davis Schneider.
On the first pitch to Alejandro Kirk, Ragans’ plant leg slipped and he sailed the ball to the backstop, allowing both runners to advance. After waving off training staff, his next pitch also went well over Perez, allowing Guerrero to come in. Then, with a crowd of 35,275 roaring, Ragans again partially slipped on his third offering, again hitting the backstop, allowing Davis Schneider to come in and tie the game.
“The first one, it looked like he slipped so I was like, OK, it's just a regular wild pitch,” said Davis Schneider. “The second one, it didn't look like he slipped, so I thought, he might get out of control. So when I was on third, I was like, I'm going to be ready for something either way out there or way over. The next pitch he does it. It's sad to see, but you've got to take advantage of it.”
Kiermaier’s homer followed in the seventh and the Blue Jays added on in the eighth when they collected four hits — double their total through the first seven — including a well executed safety squeeze by Espinal after a hit-and-run single by Whit Merrifield put men on the corners.
Biggio’s single made it 5-2, further leveraging the unusual sixth.
“That's what you've got to do in baseball, because sometimes the offence isn't going that day and you've got to find your spots to score runs some way somehow,” said Davis Schneider. “Getting those two runs without a hit is big because the offence is eventually going to get a big hit. KK got it, same with (Espinal) and Biggio, too. It was only a matter of time before we started hitting but you get on base and good things will happen.”
There was still drama in the ninth for the Blue Jays to contend with, but Jordan Romano worked out of a bases-loaded jam to close out the win.
The 28 pitches he threw Sunday, after 29 during a four-out save Friday, isn’t an ideal entry-point into the Rangers series for the all-star closer. But set-up man Erik Swanson will be activated before Monday’s series opener after throwing a clean inning Saturday at triple-A Buffalo, and that will reinforce a relief corps helped immensely by Berrios following Kevin Gausman’s eight innings Saturday with seven of his own Sunday.
“We have that in mind, we prepare ourselves between outings in the weight room, recovery stuff to execute good pitches to be able to throw you know late in the game,” said Berrios, who struck out seven while allowing only five hits and two walks. “Having outings like yesterday, today helps our bullpen, for sure.”
In that way and so many others, the Blue Jays did what they needed to during the just past period of opportunity, and now it’s on to three high-stakes weeks that will make or break their season.
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