HOUSTON -- The odds are stacked heavily against them, but the Blue Jays aren’t lying down following the Trade Deadline.
Wednesday’s 5-4 win over the Astros in extra innings gave them a series win over the AL West leaders, powered by Ernie Clement’s 10th-inning blast. The Blue Jays still have a mountain to climb, but if they’re going to do it, it has to start somewhere.
This is what mattered most:
1. Ernie Clement comes up big in extras
What a swing from Clement, who turned on the first pitch he saw in the top of the 10th and launched a no-doubter over the wall in left. These are exactly the types of swings the Blue Jays need more of, game-breakers that can wipe away their problems in an instant.
Hunter Brown carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Myles Straw broke it up with a double, continuing his best stretch of the season. Jesús Sánchez followed that up with a big, two-run shot to right, and the Blue Jays will be looking for more of that from him in August and September.
“It’s been consistently inconsistent for a lot of this year,” manager John Schneider said. “Not just individuals, but as a group, too. Knowing who we have here, we’re trying to figure out a way where we can generate some offense. We’re not saying, ‘Hey, Myles Straw, come hit 10 home runs in the month of August.’ It’s about using everyone’s skills to figure out the best way to do that.”
So many of the Blue Jays’ problems can be solved by power. The quickest path to that is a resurgence from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was left out of Wednesday’s starting lineup as he deals with some hamstring tightness, but the Blue Jays’ power outage has crept through their entire lineup. If this team is going to pull off a miracle run down the stretch, it needs to take big swings and big risks. Wednesday was a great example of how one big swing can make you forget about the other hundred swings in a game.
2. Still work ahead for Jameson Taillon
There was plenty of hard contact early on for Jameson Taillon, who loaded the bases and escaped the first inning without a run scoring, but eventually, Jose Altuve launched one. That’s when the game broke open for the Astros on Taillon.
“Strike throwing is a big thing, locating is a big thing. It’s similar to [Shane] Bieber, with a few more pitches,” Schneider said. “When you’re putting the ball where you want to and mixing your pitches well, you’ll have a pretty good shot. Hitting is hard. Chris [Bassitt] was a little bit different and he may have 12 pitches now by this point in his career. But with Jameson, understand what your strengths are. If you need to lean into a pitch or two as your outing goes, go ahead.”
Taillon lasted four innings of three-run ball, and while it wasn’t sharp, the recent injury to Trey Yesavage puts Taillon in line to stick in the rotation. Spencer Arrighetti is rehabbing Thursday with Triple-A Buffalo, but even if he returns to the big leagues soon, the Blue Jays had been eager to shift to a six-man rotation prior to Yesavage going down and that would offer another opportunity to stick to that plan, at least in the short term.
3. Stock Up: Spencer Miles
Miles had runners on second and third with no outs in the bottom of the sixth. Two harmless popups and a strikeout later, he’d escaped. In a season of great moments for Miles, he just keeps proving there’s more in there.
Miles now owns a 3.04 ERA with 71 strikeouts over 74 innings, putting him on track to finish near 100 innings if he stays in this role. Long-term, it’s possible the Blue Jays stretch him out as a starter, but he’s also showing legitimate upside in these shorter stints. Miles’ sinker, especially against right-handed hitters, is an incredible weapon.
This season has been defined by bad news and disappointments, but Miles is one of the shining lights. Finding Miles in the Rule 5 Draft, a 25-year-old who’d thrown just 14 2/3 innings around elbow and back surgeries, was like winning the player development lottery for this organization.