ST. PETERSBURG -- The Blue Jays are a big, loud team. Win or lose, there’s always an element of chaos involved, but in October, it’s the small, quiet decisions that will make all the difference.

Tuesday’s 4-2 win at Tropicana Field turned on one of those moments, and it came against the grandmasters of doing the small things right: the Rays. When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. dumped a soft, looping single into left field in the sixth inning, Marcus Semien burned around second base and raced to third.

It’s a decision that pointed the Blue Jays towards a victory, keeping them a half-game ahead of the Yankees, who also won Tuesday, for the second American League Wild Card spot. They also remained 1 1/2 behind the Red Sox, who won their sixth straight game, for the top Wild Card position.

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Semien recognized that this was not typical Guerrero contact. Of Vladdy’s 180 hits in 2021, only three have been hit softer than this one at 68.9 mph. Combine that with the spin of the baseball, and it bounced up slowly in front of left fielder Manuel Margot, allowing Semien to slide into third base just ahead of the throw.

Guerrero, seeing what was happening ahead of him, wanted a little extra, too. Three steps shy of first base, Guerrero kicked things into high gear and headed for second with a full head of steam. As Margot’s throw arrived at third base, Guerrero was already mid-air, frozen in flight for a moment before crashing head-first into second base, his helmet barreling well past the bag and bouncing off an umpire. When Guerrero popped up, he threw a winding, overhand fist-pump back towards his dugout with just as much emotion as you’d see from the 22-year-old superstar following a 450-foot home run.

“That’s huge. We have to play our A-game to beat that team,” said manager Charlie Montoyo. “That’s such a good team. We did it tonight. The baserunning was good, the offense was good, the defense was good and the pitching made big pitches when they had to.”

Four pitches later, a sac fly from Bo Bichette scored Semien, putting the Blue Jays ahead. This sequence doesn’t have the excitement of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hitting his 21st home run of the season, continuing the best month of his career. You won’t remember it as much as Alek Manoah’s outing, battling through six walks to deliver a gutsy, veteran performance that makes it easy to picture the rookie handling October with ease. In the many 3-2 and 5-4 games that the postseason brings, though, this is the type of play that wins games.

It’s a miracle that the Blue Jays held the Rays at bay, too, after handing out 11 walks. Six of those belonged to Manoah, but by the time he pounded his chest and walked off the mound following his 99th pitch, it didn’t feel like it.

“What I learned again tonight, which I already knew, is that this kid competes. He competes and he competes,” Montoyo said. “He doesn’t melt down when he gets in trouble. He makes big pitches when he has to.”

Never lacking confidence, Manoah still rated his slider a “10” and felt that he was missing around the zone, not losing the zone altogether, which is an important distinction. His meteoric rise to the big leagues was a crash course in pitching, but facing a lineup like the Rays, who even forced AL Cy Young Award candidate Robbie Ray to battle on Monday, is a final exam.

“Kudos to them. They’re a hell of a lineup and a hell of a team,” Manoah said. “They don’t give in, but I’m extremely excited about the way that I didn’t give in either. I was able to compete and give the team a chance.”

You can’t call an 11-walk game “clean,” but Manoah and the Blue Jays kept those mistakes to bruises and nothing more serious. It won’t always bounce that way, especially against the Rays, but through this red-hot stretch in September, you’re seeing a team that is no longer learning how to play in big moments, but stepping into those moments and claiming them as their own.

That also comes with an understanding that, even though the home runs lead the highlight reels, there’s always a handful of smaller, nearly-forgotten plays that lead to success in October.