ST. PETERSBURG -- For most of May, the Blue Jays have sought the seemingly mythical big inning.

It had become an urban legend of sorts, something to be whispered about in quiet corners but rarely seen and never caught on film. Finally, deep in the heart of their own personal House of Horrors on Saturday night against the Rays, the Blue Jays found it.

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With the Blue Jays locked in a 1-1 tie into the eighth inning of a game that felt all too familiar after they had littered the warning track with deep fly balls, Teoscar Hernández finally broke the tie with a solo shot to center field. Santiago Espinal soon scored on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s two-out single, but it wasn’t until Danny Jansen’s two-run blast that the Blue Jays finally looked like themselves again en route to a 5-1 win over the Rays at Tropicana Field.

“This is big,” Jansen said following his triumphant return from a left oblique strain. “Teo’s home run was huge to give us a one-run lead because that’s a good club and it’s a tight game. That’s been the trend of the season, right? Having the lead and giving it to our bullpen, we’re comfortable with that, but adding on more allows you to breathe a bit more. That’s what we did.”

A four-run inning in a 5-1 win isn’t groundbreaking, but at this point, it felt like 25. The Blue Jays were coming off five consecutive losses and eight in their past 10, plagued by an underperforming offense that has gone ice cold the moment a runner stands on second base.

“It seems like we almost did the same thing we did in the first inning, with a chance to open it up but then scoring just one,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “We had some good at-bats, but still only scored one. Then, after that, it was great to see the two-out hits. That’s who we are. Keep going.”

This isn’t an immediate fix, but it’s the moment that Montoyo has been looking for all May. Even for the optimist of all optimists, it has been challenging. Now, it’s about turning this first step into a return to the Blue Jays’ identity.

That identity? A heavyweight that doesn’t just win 5-1. It should be running teams out of the building.

This is a lineup that ranked third in the Majors last season with 846 runs and led MLB with a .796 OPS. Yes, Marcus Semien’s historic production from 2021 is gone after the infielder signed with the Rangers, but the Blue Jays brought in Matt Chapman and have a young core that’s only growing more experienced. As Saturday’s game wrapped, the Blue Jays ranked 19th in MLB in runs and 17th in OPS.

George Springer is dealing with a mild left ankle sprain, but when the star center fielder is healthy, this is a lineup topped by him, Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and ​​Hernández. Few clubs in baseball boast such talent one through four, and their time will come to take over a game and run with it. Part of this lineup’s beauty, however, lies in its depth. Well, at least it should.

Jansen is a key piece to that. Since leaning into his identity as a pull hitter, he has looked far more natural at the plate.

“I think it’s been a long time coming. This team can really hit,” Jansen said. “Obviously it’s still early, and I think that everybody is getting into the swing of things now, myself included. It’s great to be back and contribute.”

Not every matter of identity will be as easily fixed as Jansen’s surge. But one thing working in the Blue Jays’ favor has been a rotation and defense that continue to set the stage for success. This time, it was Hyun Jin Ryu, making his own return from an IL stint with a left forearm strain. Ryu held the Rays to one run over 4 2/3 innings, looking as comfortable as he has since mid-2020.

The easiest way to describe this Blue Jays team is that the pieces are all there. Even with all that has gone wrong and all of the expectations that have not been met, the club is 18-16, staying afloat in the big picture. The solution throughout this offensive slump has been patience and consistency, which seems to be an inexact science, but that’s what this is all about.

Time and time again, Montoyo insisted that once one player caught fire, so would the rest. This is where feel takes over and the metrics take a back seat. But after plenty of patience, the Blue Jays might have finally found the spark that lights a fire.