CLEVELAND -- It was a Thursday night with a “Freaky Friday” vibe. On the night the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Steven Kwan surprised even himself with his first career home run, the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Franmil Reyes was the one slapping singles to all fields and showing off his wheels on the basepaths in the Guardians’ 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays at Progressive Field.

It was as if Kwan and Reyes had inhabited each other’s bodies.

“We did a little switcheroo there,” Kwan said with a smile.

Reyes needed a switcheroo from his awful April. And this cold, wet night in which the Guardians put together an outstanding offensive display against Toronto starter José Berríos -- fouling off tough pitches, beating the big leagues' most shifty squad by going the other way and running the bases brilliantly -- was an important one for him. With a three-hit night, on the heels of two knocks against his old pals on the Padres a night earlier and a two-RBI game in Oakland on Sunday, the “Franimal” continued the journey out of his hitting hibernation.

How he did it, though, was interesting.

“I’ve been working a lot with the hitting coaches,” he said, “on trying to take things simple, trying to take an easy swing.”

Reyes showed that he doesn’t have to pound baseballs into oblivion to be a key contributor to the Cleveland run column. Three singles and some heads-up baserunning were sufficient to keep the line moving and keep the runs coming.

Entering this evening, Reyes’ season-long stats were as disappointing as the cold, wet conditions that continue to pervade the Northeast Ohio weather map. His 44.8% strikeout rate? Worst in the Majors. His 3.4% walk rate? Tied for 11th-worst. Reyes was batting a mere .157 with only two long balls to show for his big-swinging efforts.

But while the calendar’s move to May has not saved the weather, perhaps it has reinvigorated Reyes. For his encouraging week continued with a performance of resplendent restraint. His second-inning single came when he slapped a 94-mph fastball at the hands to the opposite field in right. His fourth-inning single, which led to the run that gave Cleveland the lead for good, was roped to left on a 1-2 breaking ball that hung in the zone. And his fifth-inning single, which drove in a run to make it 5-2, came on a first-pitch sinker on the inside edge that Reyes lifted into shallow center.

Those were three fine pieces of hitting, the likes of which had not been seen much this season from Cleveland’s five-hole hitter.

“Those sliders, I [had been] swinging and in front, swinging and missing,” Reyes said. “It was pretty cool that the fastball, I was able to drive the other way, and the slider, I was able to stay a little bit more back and take a base hit to left field. I was feeling good at the plate.”

And Reyes complemented it with some nice work on the basepaths. After the single in the fourth, he took off for second on Berríos’ 0-2 offering to Andrés Giménez. When Giménez adroitly sent a single through the hole that opened up on the left-hand side of the infield, Reyes did a great job reading the ball as he hustled all the way to third.

“Just trying to hustle,” he said.

When Amed Rosario hit a short infield bloop that landed behind the pitcher's mound, Reyes again got a great read and streaked home on the groundout as Rosario was thrown out at first.

Singles and stealthy running are not exactly the hallmarks of the Franmil Reyes experience. That’s the contact-hitting Kwan’s domain.

But after an opening month in which his once-booming bat -- the one that cranked out 30 homers last year -- looked busted, Reyes has demonstrated in recent days an ability to make an impact in other ways.

“It’s just nice to see him smile,” manager Terry Francona said. “I think it’s been wearing on him. I know it has. It was nice to see him look a little more hitterish, a little more comfortable in the box. Hopefully he can relax and just be who he is.”