MILWAUKEE -- Outside, the game began with a tornado warning and ended with a flash flood warning. Inside the dry confines of American Family Field, lightning flashing through the windows all night long, the Blue Jays weathered their own storm and survived.
The Blue Jays didn’t just need Tuesday’s 9-7 win in 10 innings to open a long road trip, they needed a win that felt like Blue Jays baseball, an identity they’ve been grasping for but have rarely grabbed with both hands this season.
“That was a good Blue Jay win right there,” manager John Schneider said.
That’s what it looks like, and this is what mattered from the win:
1. ALL ABOARD: Late-game chaos
The Blue Jays looked like two different ballclubs Tuesday night, the better version of themselves finally waking up in the late innings. The beauty of the Blue Jays’ comeback, which was briefly derailed by Jeff Hoffman walking three batters and blowing a save, is that everyone got in on the fun. This wasn’t just a big, loud walk-off from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. It was complete team baseball.
Schneider keeps saying that he wants to “out-team the other team.” This is what that looks like.
Davis Schneider’s big double in the ninth shifted the entire energy of the game, but after Hoffman’s blown save sent it to extras, Vladdy joined the party with his own double to the wall. Even Myles Straw doubled home two runs to break the game open.
“That’s huge. That’s the best kind of win, in my opinion,” Straw said. “This is what we did a lot of last year, and last year, we were a really good team. If you get punched in the face, it’s tough to fight back sometimes. With this team, it shouldn’t be.”
Both Schneider and Straw began the game on the bench. They delivered two of the most important at-bats of the game. This game was wildly imperfect, but in a few of these late flashes, we saw what the Blue Jays look like when they “out-team the other team.”
2. THE HOPE: Flashes of power
Daulton Varsho and Andrés Giménez both launched home runs Tuesday, and while both were solo shots -- which has been a running theme this season -- it’s a fine start. Varsho, in particular, is having an extremely encouraging stretch for the Blue Jays.
With three home runs in his last four games, we’re seeing the version of Varsho from Spring Training, where he hit five home runs and brewed up hype of a breakout season. It took some time, but the hype is back.
Varsho’s home run tied him with Giménez for the team lead at three, just as we all predicted would be the case on April 3. Even in the loss, Giménez’s home run off Jacob Misiorowski was the most impressive swing of the night.
Last year, Giménez was Mr. March. He hit three home runs in the Blue Jays’ first five games, then his offensive game went off a cliff with a .551 OPS the rest of the way while he navigated quad and ankle injuries. It all felt so unsettled, but there’s a reason Schneider stood so firmly behind Giménez coming into this season. We’re starting to see why.
3. SPOTLIGHT ON: Kazuma Okamoto
It didn’t matter how hard he hit the ball and it didn’t matter that the infield was playing in. Okamoto needed one, and judging by the reaction in the Blue Jays’ dugout when Okamoto tied the game in the top of the ninth, everyone else knew just how much he needed it.
The early days of the season were kind to Okamoto, and while it’s always been clear that some tough adjustment periods would come, the first week gave us a glimpse of what Okamoto can mean to this lineup. Yes, he’s struck out 22 times in 15 games, many of them looking like he was caught in-between, but games like these could loosen Okamoto up. That’s what the Blue Jays want.
“Talking to him and [hitting coach David] Popkins, I think it’s about getting back to -- and this is Pop’s language -- bigger moves and more aggressive moves,” Schneider explained. “It’s about not being afraid to let it eat as opposed to putting it in play.”
Frankly, that’s what this entire lineup needs. At his best, Okamoto is the perfect representation of what the Blue Jays want their offense to be, a pure “hitter” who can put the ball in play, but also land the uppercut. Outside of Guerrero, Okamoto has as much power as any hitter in this lineup to change the trajectory of the Blue Jays’ season.