ST. PETERSBURG -- The Blue Jays’ lineup has waited for a night like Tuesday for about six weeks.
The fact that it came against the team with the best record in the American League and inside a stadium that has been the site of so much disappointment for Toronto made its outburst that much more remarkable.
The Blue Jays crushed three homers in their 10-5 series-opening victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field.
“It was a really good team approach today, I thought, overall,” manager John Schneider said. “... You get three home runs and you get some timely hits -- that's really, really important, especially against a good pitching team.”
The win was the Blue Jays’ sixth in the past eight games and pushed their record to 62-65, only a half-game worse than the Rangers (62-64) for the third American League Wild Card spot. The Twins are also 62-65.
Part of the belief of why the Blue Jays can make the playoffs is that, for all of their struggles at the plate, the offense really has nowhere to go but up. Thus, although you can consider Tuesday’s barrage to be a bit of an outlier, it can also be viewed as a progression to the mean. Here are some numbers from the victory that illustrate just how this performance stands out.
- It was the first time the Blue Jays had scored double-digit runs since their 10-0 win over the Giants on July 8 -- 34 games ago.
- The three homers -- supplied by Alejandro Kirk, Kazuma Okamoto (to set a Blue Jays franchise rookie record) and Josh Smith -- were one more than the team had hit in its past eight games combined.
- The Blue Jays’ 17 hits were their second most in a game this season, trailing only the 20 they put up against the Angels on May 9.
- The 10 runs came via five two-run innings, including a tone-setting couple of runs in the top of the first on an RBI single from George Springer and an RBI double by Jesús Sánchez. That was the first time the Blue Jays had plated multiple runs in the opening inning since that aforementioned Giants game.
- Kirk, Springer and Ernie Clement each finished with three hits. That aforementioned Angels game was the only other time this season when a trio of Blue Jays collected at least three hits.
“Lately, we've been playing good baseball, having a good offense, good at-bats, clean baseball,” Kirk said through a club interpreter. “Definitely, this is who we are, and hopefully we can continue doing that.”
Kirk is slashing .378/.442/.568 with 15 RBIs over his past 21 games. He finished a triple shy of the cycle and looks to be completely over the fractured left thumb that sidelined him for more than two months earlier this season.
“Thank God I got into my rhythm, and it feels good right now,” Kirk said.
Most of the Blue Jays’ damage came against Rays starter and All-Star right-hander Nick Martinez. He had limited Toronto to two runs on two hits through two previous starts (11 innings) this season and came into this game with a 2.74 ERA. Then the Blue Jays got some pitches up in the zone and did not miss them. They tagged the veteran hurler for six runs in 3 2/3 frames in what was his shortest outing of the year.
“I like the way that the guys kind of kept taking some intentful swings against him,” Schneider said.
Having success against a pitcher who had previously dominated them is one thing. Having success in a building that long haunted the Blue Jays is quite another. Toronto entered with a .393 all-time winning percentage at the Trop (92-142). It had dropped eight of its previous 10 games here and had scored a grand total of nine runs in its past six games -- all losses.
But once again, this night was unlike so many others for this offense. The 10 runs were the Blue Jays’ most inside Tropicana Field since a 20-1 triumph on May 23, 2023.
We’ll find out over the season’s remaining 35 games whether this was just a blip or a sign of a lineup -- one that is still missing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. -- that is ready to break out down the stretch.