Blue Jays Figure it Out, Get Back Above .500

The Toronto Blue Jays are back above .500 baseball. And all it took was a series against the struggling Kansas City Royals.

Things did not start well for Toronto in its opening series with the St. Louis Cardinals just a few days ago. Save from their Opening Day slug-fest victory, to which the team put up 19 hits in the back-and-forth 10-9 win, the Jays struggled the rest of the way, dropping three-straight games, including two in St. Louis, before allowing Kansas to pick up its first win of the season on Monday.

Falling to 1-3 through four games was not even the worst of it. The problem was two-fold; A.) the Blue Jays could not hit home runs and B.) the starting pitching was atrocious.

Both matters were sorted out over the next three games, with Toronto responding with three-straight victories in Kansas to take the series 3-1, while getting back above the .500 mark.

Not only did the series in Kansas restore some faith in the starting rotation, but it also exposed some of Toronto’s greatest strengths: its ability to hit the ball all over the field, including that of the long ball, which had been plaguing its corps for the first three four.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. launched home runs in back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday, while Matt Chapman kept his red-hot hitting streak alive. He is now up to six doubles through the first seven games, while he owns an MLB-leading 13 hits on the year.

Offseason acquisition Daulton Varsho showed off his speed, outfield versatility, as well as his hitting power over the past three games, as he is now up to 10 hits, three doubles, a home run and a stolen base, while batting .357 on the year.

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Fellow newcomer Kevin Kiermaier also put his flare on display on Thursday, as he smartly turned a long single into a double with his base running abilities, before coming home on a Bo Bichette blast.

“I love it. It’s a run that probably shouldn’t happen,” clubhouse manager John Schneider said of Kiermaier’s heads up play. “Kevin does that. He did it to us in Tampa. We just love that kind of effort and those instincts in the field.”

Much like that of Guerrero, Bichette is also up to 11 hits on the season – which is quite impressive considering the team’s offensive struggles in three of seven games.

Starting pitching has drastically improved the second time through the order, as both Alek Manoah and Kevin Gausman put up strong appearances against the Royals. Gausman shut out Kansas through six innings of work, while Manoah gave up one hit over seven innings the night prior.

“He’s a fiery competitor,” Schneider said of Manoah following his first win of the season. “He understands the situations of games and he does not want to come out. He has a different gear. We see it a lot, we saw it last year and we saw it again tonight.”

Next up for Toronto is a three-game weekend set in Los Angeles against Shohei Ohtani and the Angels. Luckily for the Jays, they will not see the dual threat on the mound, as his scheduled start won’t come until they are long out of California.

Chris Bassitt and Jose Berrios will look to rebound following disappointing outings their first time around while Yusei Kikuchi will hope to follow up his first start with yet another victory on Sunday.

The series gets underway from Angel Stadium at 8:30 PM central time on Friday. All three games can be viewed live on Sportsnet in Canada.