CHICAGO -- For six innings, the Blue Jays looked like they were carrying Friday's blowout loss right back onto the field with them.
The bats were quiet. The bullpen was stretched thin. Another loss felt inevitable.
Then Daulton Varsho changed the mood with one swing.
And by the time Kazuma Okamoto connected an inning later, the entire ballpark felt different.
Fueled by a five-run eighth inning and an offense that finally woke up after spending much of the afternoon asleep, the Blue Jays stormed back from a five-run deficit to defeat the Cubs, 8-6, on Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
"I love the way they battled," manager John Schneider said. "Yesterday's game sucked. We get run out of here pretty good, then you get down 5-0 after the homer from Pete [Crow-Armstrong]. But they're not going to quit, and today was a good one."
That resilience has quietly become one of Toronto's defining traits.
The Blue Jays entered the seventh inning trailing 5-0 and had managed little against Cubs starter Colin Rea, who held them hitless through four innings. Toronto had scored just two runs over its previous 15 innings dating back to Friday's 16-2 loss.
There wasn't much reason to believe a comeback was coming.
Then Varsho stepped in.
Playing in his first game after returning from the injured list earlier in the day, the center fielder came to the plate with two aboard and one out in the seventh inning. One swing later, it was 5-3.
"Vars' homer was huge there," Schneider said. "It kind of got us going. It allows you to get off in the game and try to keep it close."
The dugout felt it, too.
"Always good to get guys back and healthy," starter Patrick Corbin said. "He had a great swing on that pitch and was able to put the first three runs on the board for us."
The comeback still required another gear. Toronto found it in the eighth.
Myles Straw worked a leadoff walk before George Springer followed with a single. Alejandro Kirk, coming off the bench cold, delivered a pinch-hit RBI single to make it 5-4. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed by ripping a game-tying single into center field, bringing a roar from the sizable contingent of Blue Jays fans scattered throughout the Wrigley Field crowd.
Suddenly, the momentum belonged to Toronto. Okamoto made sure it stayed that way.
With runners aboard and the inning still rolling, the rookie slugger got a fastball he could handle and launched it into the left-field bleachers. As the ball cleared the wall, he pointed toward the Blue Jays’ dugout while rounding the bases.
Just moments earlier, he had been reminding himself to stay under control.
"I was getting mentally prepared because I had a feeling I was going to get an at-bat there," Okamoto said. "Just put a good swing on it, try to avoid the double play and stay within myself."
The result was far more than that.
"For a guy that's been grinding, it's nice to come through there and tie the game," Schneider said.
The comeback does not happen, however, without the work done by Toronto's bullpen.
Corbin lasted only 3 2/3 innings, leaving Schneider to piece together the remainder of the afternoon with a relief corps that had already been taxed heavily the previous day.
Instead of letting the game get away, Lazaro Estrada and the rest of Toronto's relievers kept the deficit manageable.
"Great job from Laz," Schneider said. "The bullpen was good. We're asking a ton of them, and they're responding."
No moment was bigger than the one facing Louis Varland.
After Toronto grabbed the lead, Mason Fluharty loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the eighth. The tying run was on base. The heart of the Cubs' order was due up, and Varland was coming in. Wrigley Field was alive again.
Varland never blinked. All Schneider told him was simple.
"Hey, we still got a three-run lead. Just make pitches."
That's exactly what Varland did.
He escaped the jam with minimal damage before returning to finish the ninth, preserving one of Toronto's most satisfying wins of the season.
"You still got a three-run lead," Varland said of his mindset. "One pitch at a time. I pitched in the World Series, and nothing tops that. Although the crowd was loud, I just got tunnel vision and I’m able to block out the crowd.”
The Blue Jays will remember Okamoto's homer. They'll remember Varsho's return. They'll remember the eight unanswered runs.
But after spending much of the first two games of this series looking flat, Saturday's comeback might be remembered for something even more important.
It reminded them they're never quite out of a game.