TORONTO — The adage “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 Toronto 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 cemented.
“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 — 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 the Rays’ 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 in spurts 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.
Danny Jansen ripped a two-out, bases-loaded single in the ninth inning off reliever Raisel Iglesias that plated two runs and secured the victory for the home side.
Having taken the first two games of the series from an elite Braves club that holds the best record in the National League, the Blue Jays could’ve easily been content with that outcome. However, busting out the brooms during Sunday’s Mother's Day contest is a positive step in the journey toward establishing their version of a killer instinct.
It should be noted, though, this was not a crisply played game by any means, on either side. There were several outfield misplays by the Braves along with multiple baserunning gaffes and fielding errors by the Blue Jays.
“It wasn't pretty today but definitely take it,” Schneider said. “Winning at this level is hard and winning against a team like that, three games in a row, is really hard. So, you take it for sure. You always take a win."
“But I think you have to reel guys back in a little bit starting tomorrow and say, ‘You know, there's things that we need to tighten up,’” continued the manager. “I think the last two games were good and today was a weird game — a lot of guys left on base, there were errors on both sides, us on the bases, things like that.”
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, yet 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.
“I've been continuing to attack the zone and sometimes when you attack the zone, you get hit,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima. “And so, we'll go back and check the data and all that. But yeah, I'll continue attacking the zone moving forward.”
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 and 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 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 in the next frame when a Chapman error allowed Acuna to reach base. He was later driven home on an Albies homer. Former Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar — who received a standing ovation from the Rogers Centre crowd earlier in the game — launched a homer to left field in the fourth inning to make it 5-3.
Springer cleared the fence in the bottom half of the frame with his fifth homer of the season, cutting the Braves’ lead to 5-4. The Blue Jays threatened again in the sixth and seventh but weren’t able to push across a tying run.
In the ninth inning, though, they kept the pressure on. Guerrero Jr. ripped a single off the wall in right field, but he was slow out of the batter’s box as if he thought it was going to clear the fence. It was a clear gaffe and Guerrero Jr. knew it — had he been running hard, that would have been a double.
“We all thought he got it, too,” said Schneider. “A guy like him, he usually knows. Obviously, weird conditions with the wind … with the roof open today. [The Braves] had trouble. I think we should have been a little bit more aware of that and been a little bit more aware on the bases.
“It's nice when you win and it doesn't come back to bite you in the ass a little bit.”
The Blue Jays proceeded to load the bases against Iglesias, paving the way for Jansen’s heroics. And while the execution might have been lacking during Sunday’s victory, the confidence that accompanies a killer instinct was still very much present in the Blue Jays dugout.
“This lineup — it can do some things,” Jansen said. “I think the motto is this is a team that never gives up.”
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