BOSTON — Unofficially, the Blue Jays set a new season high for consecutive wins when they made some history Monday afternoon. The record books will say the win streak didn’t reach five until the evening, when they won again.
But either way, it was an uncommonly productive day for the Blue Jays, who won twice at Fenway Park to improve their season record to 65-68. Officially, the Blue Jays have now won five games in a row, but since they also won the suspended June 26 game that was completed after a two-month delay, it feels like they haven’t lost in six.
“There’s nothing better than winning,” said starter Jose Berrios. “We’re playing really well offensively, and our pitchers have been throwing the ball really well.”
“I really can’t say enough about how they went about it,” added manager John Schneider. “The older guys are really setting the tone and it’s fun to watch the younger guys.”
For a team that’s underwhelmed most of the season, this winning streak comes as a pleasant surprise — and it hasn’t happened by accident. Winning two games in one day is never easy, Fenway Park is rarely hospitable to visitors and the Red Sox are a fringe playoff team — not that they looked like one on a night they made four errors and allowed as many unearned runs.
But to their credit, the Blue Jays did some things very well Monday, starting with Berrios.
After a well-executed bullpen game in the afternoon, Berrios pitched 7.2 strong innings Monday night, saving the bullpen at a time that only Tommy Nance, Brandon Eisert and Brendon Little were available. That pitching performance was essential to the Blue Jays’ 7-3 win, and highlights the value Berrios brings each season.
When the Blue Jays used six pitchers to get through the afternoon game, he knew he’d be asked to pitch as deep into the game as he could.
“Honestly I felt a little pressure,” Berrios said. “But I understand I’m human. I’m not a superhero, so I just went out there and did my thing.”
Under typical circumstances, Berrios might not have faced Jarren Duran a fourth time. The centre fielder had doubled twice against Berrios and was clearly seeing the ball well, but with his bullpen depleted, manager John Schneider left Berrios in longer than usual. Duran homered, cutting the Blue Jays’ lead to two, but not before the right-hander had recorded two outs in the eighth.
“That’s the performance that everybody needed there,” said George Springer, who homered in both of Monday’s games. “He’s been a horse for us — extremely consistent this whole year. For him to come out and do that again was huge for us.”
An inning and a third later, Little had his first big-league save.
Now three games under .500, the Blue Jays clearly aren’t where they set out to be when the season began. At the same time, they’re currently playing their best baseball of the season with a 14-9 record in August, not including the suspended game win. Those 14 wins represent their highest total in any month this year with five games still remaining on the schedule.
Whether it’s the continued excellence of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the late-season emergence of Bowden Francis or the contributions from rookies including Will Wagner, Joey Loperfido and Leo Jimenez, the Blue Jays have a lot going right for them at the moment. For once, everything seems to be clicking with the kind of extended winning streak that might have turned around this season had it happened in May or June.
“We’re kind of doing what we expected to do early in the year,” Springer said. “Obviously now it’s a little bit of a different time, but guys are playing the game, playing the game the right way, and we’re having fun.”
Ultimately, teams end up where they deserve to end up after a 162-game season. The Blue Jays are last in the AL East for a reason. But right now they’re not playing anything like a last-place team, and that’s significant especially because every one of the current contributors can be retained for 2025 if needed.
That includes Springer, who was once again central to the Blue Jays’ offensive efforts Monday night. He worked an eight-pitch walk in the third inning then hit a three-run home run in the fifth, leading to “Let’s Go Blue Jays” chants at Fenway Park.
Soon afterwards, Addison Barger and Ernie Clement would drive in insurance runs, giving the Blue Jays a little breathing room at a time that six relievers were down. However, not everyone contributed to the offensive effort as Davis Schneider continued struggling at the plate with a fly-out and three strikeouts.
Big picture, though, this team is playing well, and wins like this resonate within the clubhouse.
“We’ve got a city on the front of our chests,” Berrios said. “We’ve got to be proud of that.”