DETROIT — Two outs in the ninth, down 3-1 and on the brink of losing the series to the Detroit Tigers, Danny Jansen made sure the Blue Jays played a little more baseball before the All-Star break.
After Matt Chapman drew a walk against Tigers closer Alex Lange, one of the three pitchers who combined to no-hit the Blue Jays on Saturday, Jansen stepped into the box and sent a 1-0 middle-in sinker into the left-field seats for a game-tying, two-run home run. As he saw the ball sail over the wall, Jansen said he felt “on top of the world at that moment.”
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In the top of the 10th, Nathan Lukes hit an RBI double that gave the Blue Jays a narrow 4-3 lead and in the bottom of the frame, closer Jordan Romano, fresh off being named as a replacement for the All-Star Game, retired the side in order to complete the comeback win and series victory on Sunday at Comerica Park.
“It’s the last game before the break and to be able to go out on top and to have that feeling of going into the break and being hungry and ready for the second half, it’s good,” Jansen said.
Especially after they were no-hit a day ago, this win was the energizing end Toronto wanted to finish off what’s been, at times, a puzzling first half for a team that came into the season with aspirations to win the American League East but instead is in third place in the division and holding onto the second wild-card spot, sandwiched between the Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros.
The Blue Jays will finish the season’s first half at 50-41, their best record at the All-Star break since 2016 when they were 51-40. Over an up-and-down three months, it’s fair to say the Blue Jays wanted to be in a better spot than they are, but things could also be worse.
“It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster,” Romano said. “I’m sure, frustrating at times for the fans and us for sure, right? But I always believe that the best ball is ahead of us.”
While all facets of the roster — pitching, hitting, defence, baserunning — have hardly felt like they’ve synced up on the field this season, the often grinding offence has been perhaps the most underwhelming, especially after we’ve become accustomed to a powerhouse lineup in Toronto. Over the past two seasons, no team has been better offensively than the Blue Jays, per OPS and wRC+. This year, however, they’ve not had the same sort of pop. They rank seventh in the league in wRC+ (107) and 12th in OPS (.741). They’re fifth in hits (810), yet 13th in runs (410). Their 102 home runs rank 16th.
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Their lineup features a lot of talented hitters who haven’t quite been at their best yet. Fair or unfair, perhaps no one represents that more than Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who has a 120 wRC+ through 88 games. That’s above the league average (100 wRC+), but below his own career average (132 wRC+) and well below his peak, when he put up a 166 wRC+ during his near-MVP 2021 season.
But it’s not just Guerrero. After his stunningly productive April, Chapman is still been hitting below his career norms since May 1, though he’s gotten hotter in July. Alejandro Kirk was an All-Star a year ago, but his 78 wRC+ this year is well under the 124 wRC+ he averaged over his first three seasons. The team has also only gotten sporadic production from its bench players, though Ernie Clement and Lukes stepped up in Sunday’s win.
The most stunning underperformance of the first half, though, came from starter Alek Manoah, who had a 6.36 ERA over his first 13 starts before he was optioned to the minors. After a month away, he returned this weekend and ended his first half on a high with six one-run innings against the Tigers and looked far closer to the guy who was a Cy Young Award finalist a year ago.
It’s not been all disappointment, however. There have been promising developments over three months. Bo Bichette is having a career season: He leads the AL in hits (122) and is second in batting average (.317). Whit Merrifield has been a sparkplug in the lineup and is off to his third career All-Star Game next week.
On the pitching side, starter Kevin Gausman is having another strong season. He leads the AL with 153 strikeouts and set a Blue Jays franchise record for most strikeouts pre-All-Star break, besting Rogers Clemens’ mark of 140 set in 1997. Gausman had been selected for the All-Star Game, but he elected to skip the event in Seattle in order to rest and spend time with his family. Elsewhere in the rotation, José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi have both had respectable bounce-back seasons after they were the weak links in the rotation a year ago.
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Toronto’s bullpen has been sneaky solid, too, and is ranked fourth in the AL with a 3.63 ERA. In fact, Sunday’s win had a lot to do with the bullpen holding steady when starter Chris Bassitt was chased from the game after giving up three runs on nine hits over four innings with four strikeouts. But Trevor Richards, Tim Mayza, Erik Swanson, Yimi García and Romano combined for six scoreless innings, allowing the offence a chance to complete the comeback win.
“They were tremendous,” Schneider said of the bullpen’s effort.
The comeback win over the Tigers means the Blue Jays finished this cushy road trip with a 5-1 record after they swept the Chicago White Sox and took two of three against the Tigers. Given their swings of performance over their first 91 games, the Blue Jays were glad to finish on a positive note.
“This four days, I think, comes at a good time for everyone,” Schneider said. “I think it’s just good for everyone, but it just lets you sleep a little easier, beer’s a little colder tonight. And I think it just gives you a little bit of momentum when we get back home.”
The Blue Jays kick off their second-half schedule at the Rogers Centre against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres. In the final 71-game push, they’ll be eyeing to achieve a level of consistency that has eluded them thus far.
“We’re looking forward to playing our best baseball going forward,” Schneider said. “We put ourselves right in the middle of a playoff hunt. And I think that there are things that we can all collectively say we can be a little bit more consistent at, but when you look back at the last 91 games, it’s been a battle. We’ve been on the road a lot and it’s been a grind. I think to be in this position is great, enjoy the time off and, hopefully, hit the ground running when we do get home. Been a little bit of a roller coaster, but such is life in the big leagues.”
(Top photo of Matt Chapman after scoring in the seventh inning: Rick Osentoski / USA Today)