Make it eight series wins in their last ten for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Dating back to the end of May, the Blue Jays have won series against the Texas Rangers, Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, and now the Boston Red Sox. Over the weekend, they took two of three against their American League East rival to win the season series.
On Friday, they shut out the Red Sox 9-0. They opened the scoring in the first, and scored once in each of the first three innings. In the latter third of the game, the Jays added six more runs as Jose Berrios went seven innings with eight strikeouts.
The Blue Jays suffered a blowout of their own on Saturday, falling 15-1. Aside from Braydon Fisher not giving up a run out of the bullpen, there weren’t a whole lot of positives from this game, as the Jays’ only run came courtesy of an Addison Barger double.
You can lose a game 15-1 one day, and then win the next day 5-3, it’s still 1-1 on the record. That was the case for Sunday afternoon’s game, as the Jays took the series with a 5-3 win in the rubber match. Barger and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went back-to-back in the first with home runs, and Eric Lauer did enough to get the win.
Of the regulars (10 or more plate appearances), Alejandro Kirk had the strongest series, as he finished with a 191 wRC+ thanks to two singles and a double. Andres Gimenez had a nice bounce-back series, slashing .400/.500/.400 with a 172 wRC+. Ernie Clement, Barger, George Springer, and Guerrero Jr. all finished with a wRC+ above 126 with 10 or more plate appearances.
Nathan Lukes didn’t have a great weekend, slashing .222/.364/.222 in 11 plate appearances for an 83 wRC+. Bo Bichette also had a sub-100 wRC+ weekend, slashing .286/.286/.357 for a 76 wRC+. Jonatan Clase and Myles Straw had rough weekends in their eight plate appearances.
Their starting pitching was a mixed bag. Berrios had a strong start, going seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. Chris Bassitt had a horrendous start, giving up nine runs (eight earned) in 2+ innings pitched. Eric Lauer fell somewhere in the middle, giving up three earned runs in four and one-third innings pitched.
Paxton Schultz and Mason Fluharty were the two relievers to give up a run in this series, well, that is if you don’t count Tyler Heineman. Jeff Hoffman pitched one inning, striking out all three batters he faced. Braydon Fisher allowed three inherited runners to score, but wasn’t tagged with an earned run. He’s now gone 20.2 innings pitched without giving up an earned run out of the bullpen.
Brendon Little pitched a scoreless inning, and Nick Sandlin pitched two scoreless innings. Yariel Rodriguez continues to impress in a high-leverage role, getting two outs when the Red Sox had runners on second and third.
The New York Yankees also won on Sunday, meaning that the Blue Jays are still three games back of the division lead. However, the good news is that the Blue Jays welcome the Yankees for a three-game series starting on Monday. A sweep right about now would be fantastic.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.