Blue Jays bats keep persisting despite the rash of injury scares

ST PETERSBURG -- The Blue Jays keep getting hits as their roster keeps taking them.

With the help of three more homers and 12 more knocks Thursday, Toronto knocked off the first-place Rays at Tropicana Field by the score of 5-1 to notch its seventh consecutive series win. It was also the club’s first series win inside the Trop since Sept. 2023.

At 63-66, the Blue Jays are a half game behind the Twins for the third American League Wild Card spot. Toronto is tied in the standings with the Rangers, who play Thursday night.

The Blue Jays racked up 38 hits in this series, their most in any three-game span this season. Home runs by Kazuma Okamoto, Nathan Lukes and Daz Cameron gave Toronto seven over the three games. Prior to arriving in St. Petersburg, the power-starved Blue Jays had hit just six homers in their previous 11 contests.

“The Tampa Bay Rays, they always give us problems,” Lukes said. “But it felt good to finally punch them back.”

Lukes added that he thinks the team’s confidence level is at a season high. How can it not be with how this club is performing with its roster in flux?

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been out for about a week -- although he’s on track to return shortly. Outfielder Brett Bateman left Wednesday’s game with right hamstring tightness. Infielder Josh Smith was out of Thursday’s lineup after dealing with cramps, which really put Toronto in a bind when shortstop Andrés Giménez left the game in the fourth inning after suffering right hamstring tightness while running out a ground ball.

Manager John Schneider provided good news on the three-time Gold Glover postgame; he showed good strength and mobility on an initial exam and isn’t scheduled to undergo an MRI. The team will see how he feels on Friday prior to the series opener against the Yankees in the Bronx.

Yet, Giménez’s injury forced Toronto to make a full line change on its infield for the fifth inning: Ernie Clement moved from second base to shortstop to fill in for Giménez. Charles McAdoo went from third to second, Okamoto moved from first to third, and backup catcher Brandon Valenzuela played his third career game at third base.

But no matter what they are dealing with, the Blue Jays are finding ways to win.

“They're not backing down from it,” Schneider said. “I think that they all understand where we are in the season, and they are all kind of just stepping up. … We’ve got versatile guys, and they kind of accepted the challenge today.”

“I think we're coming in the ballpark confident every day,” said starting pitcher Shane Bieber, “and it feels like it's showing up more as of late.”

Bieber turned in arguably his best start of the season, dealing seven innings of one-run ball. He allowed four hits and struck out seven batters without issuing a walk. He threw a season-high 101 pitches, 70 for strikes.

Okamoto got the scoring started with his second homer of the series, a projected 414-foot solo shot to left field. Then Lukes led off the top of the fifth by sending a changeup from Rays left-hander Ian Seymour into the right-field seats. It was Lukes’ first home run off a lefty this year, and it was only the third home run this year off of Seymour’s changeup, his best pitch.

But it wouldn’t be the only one of the inning. One batter later, Cameron stepped to the dish and annihilated a Seymour changeup 442 feet down the left-field line. That dinger -- the longest of Cameron’s MLB career and tied for the second-longest by a Blue Jays player this season -- actually never came down; it landed on one of Tropicana Field’s catwalks.

While the ball stayed up, “everyone's jaws were just on the ground,” Lukes said of Cameorn’s clout.

Lukes made jaws drop as well in the seventh inning, when he made a phenomenal leaping catch in front of the right-field wall to rob Cedric Mullins of extra bases and a possible RBI.

It may have been the catch of the year for the Blue Jays, and it’s those kinds of whatever-it-takes plays that they will need more of, no matter who is on the field, if they want to get to October.

“We were competing our [butt] off,” Lukes said of this series overall. “Just carry that for the next [33] games or whatever's left, and we'll be in a good spot.”