ANAHEIM, Calif. — Three days in one of baseball’s most serene settings against a last-place team. In theory, it’s an ideal opportunity for a struggling team. In practice, the Blue Jays endured two painful losses followed by the kind of win they’ve been seeking for a while.
All it took was an eight-run outburst with some lockdown relief pitching and the Blue Jays avoided a sweep. The eight runs matched a season high for the Blue Jays, who won 8-5 to improve to 17-20 on the season.
Considering the frustration of the last two nights, when the typically reliable duo of Yimi Garcia and Jeff Hoffman squandered late leads, this win was bigger than your typical May victory. A sweep against the last-place Angels would have been very costly, but instead, the Blue Jays’ losing streak ends at four.
Offensively, there were many contributors Thursday, including Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had three hits, George Springer, who walked three times, and Ernie Clement, who hit three singles of his own. Each contributed to a four-run sixth inning in which the Blue Jays batted around for the first time all season.
But more than anyone else, it was Daulton Varsho who drove the offence in this one. He hit an RBI double in the third, singled in the fifth and hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth before hitting his third home run of the season to add a valuable insurance run in the eighth.
Meanwhile, the bullpen followed up starter Chris Bassitt with three dominant innings on a night both Garcia and Hoffman appeared to be unavailable.
Yariel Rodriguez stepped up with two of the most dominant innings he’s ever had in the major leagues. He struck out five of the seven hitters he faced on the way to two scoreless innings before handing the ball over to Chad Green, who secured his first save of the season.
Even if his linescore wasn’t pretty, Bassitt did his part to keep the Blue Jays in the game. The right-hander pitched into the seventh inning, and though he allowed five runs, of which four were earned, he struck out six and overcame errors by Bo Bichette and Guerrero Jr.
Offensively, though, the Blue Jays weren’t quite at full strength.
After exiting Wednesday’s game with quad tightness, second baseman Andrés Giménez was out of the starting lineup again Thursday. While the severity of the issue remains unclear, infielder Michael Stefanic was pulled from Thursday’s triple-A game so he could make his way to Seattle, where he’ll join the Blue Jays, either on their taxi squad or as a member of the active roster.
From here, the Blue Jays fly to Seattle, where they’ll play the first-place Mariners for three games this weekend. Facing Luis Castillo, Logan Evans and Bryce Miller won’t be easy, but at least the Blue Jays will arrive with a little of the offensive momentum that’s been eluding them for most of the season.
