Blue Jays weather injuries to win fifth straight at start of key month

The Toronto Blue Jays continued to roll as the calendar turned to June, despite their depth being tested. Players will need to continue to step up as the team starts to identify priorities ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, writes Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi.

TORONTO – June is when the small-sample-size randomness of the first two months starts to abate and the baseball industry shifts from making observations to drawing conclusions. Lots of time remains before directional decisions must be made ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, but this is the period for assessments to harden and priorities to be identified.

Appropriately then, “and I’ve been saying it for about a week,” noted Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider, “you want to put your best foot forward this month.”

Especially if you’re a team in the middle of the muddled American League wild-card race facing what Schneider terms “a test of the depth” right now. The placing of Daulton Varsho on the injured list with a Grade 1 left hamstring strain before Sunday’s 8-4 victory capped a four-game sweep of the reeling Athletics made him their third everyday player on the shelf, joining just-sidelined Anthony Santander and on the-cusp-of-returning Andrés Giménez.

Davis Schneider was recalled to take Varsho’s spot while Erik Swanson was reinstated from the injured list in place of Easton Lucas, returned to triple-A Buffalo to continue starting, part of an ongoing recalibration of the club’s pitching staff.

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What that means, for the time being, is that the Blue Jays will mix-and-match in centre field with Myles Straw, Nathan Lukes and Jonatan Clase, along with George Springer on occasion, similar to the way they’re covering Santander’s reps at DH and the outfield, at a time when they need to push.

“Every team gets tested and injuries happen. It’s part of it, unfortunately,” John Schneider said. “But we’ve had some really good contributions from guys that weren’t really penciled in to have everyday playing time. We want them to keep doing it, whether it’s Myles, whether it’s Lukes, if it’s Schneid coming up. These guys have got to kind of pick up what Varsh and Tony are used to doing. It’s been good so far, they’re going to have to keep doing it.”

They kept doing in Sunday’s finale, as Addison Barger went deep for the third straight game, clubbing a three-run homer in the eighth inning off Justin Sterner to erase a 4-2 deficit. The Blue Jays had begun clawing back from a 3-0 hole in the fifth when George Springer ripped an RBI single and Alejandro Kirk followed with a run-scoring double, but that rally was cut short when Springer, having tweaked his left ankle, was hopping on the base as he arrived at third and was alertly tagged out by Max Schuemann.

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The A’s then eked out a run in the eighth on Jacob Wilson’s sacrifice fly off Swanson, but Springer reached on catcher’s interference and Kirk followed with a base hit in the bottom half, setting the stage for Barger’s dramatic blow. Later in the inning, Lukes added an RBI single and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ripped a two-run double to complete a 39-run weekend, a wild juxtaposition after four runs in three games during the previous series in Texas.

“We’ve kind of felt like we’re so close to just breaking through and that series right there shows you our potential and where we can get to when we’re at our best,” said Ernie Clement, who had two hits and scored in the eighth on Lukes’ single. “We have to keep it going.”

Added Lukes: “We compete. The goal is to be a pain in the ass, grind out at-bats and right now we’re succeeding. It’s fun.”

A much stiffer test looms next week when the Philadelphia Phillies arrive for a three-game series beginning Tuesday. A nine-game road trip with stops at wild-card rival Minnesota, surprising St. Louis and a return engagement with the Phils follows and if the Blue Jays could bottle something from this weekend, it would be “offence,” said John Schneider.

“That. Hit homers. Pitch well. And don’t stop competing. But the offence this series was the best I’ve seen in a while here; in a number of years, really. If you can bottle that up, that’d be great.”

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Bowden Francis, Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt are slated to start that set after a rotation shuffle separated Francis from the vacant fifth spot in the rotation, which will now come after Bassitt and before Kevin Gausman, who started Sunday but only made it through 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits.

The goal there was to both get their starters some extra rest after a run of 13 games in 13 days ended Sunday, and better space out the workload around the Scherzer vacancy.

Spencer Turnbull is being built up to cover that spot but Sunday at Buffalo, in his second-last outing before the 35-day option period permitted in his contract expires, he didn’t make it out of the second inning. Turnbull allowed two runs on two hits and three walks with one strikeout, his velocity down at least two m.p.h. across the board.

Before his outing, John Schneider said there was “nothing physical going on,” attributing the right-hander’s velocity fluctuations to “a buildup thing. I think back to guys last year that had weird starts to spring in the season, Gausy was one of those guys, there are a handful of other pitchers around the league that either signed late or got going late and it takes a little bit of time. His case is a little unique and I know that they’re working hard to see what’s going on mechanically to figure that out.”

Lefty Eric Lauer remains on the roster to provide bulk innings in the interim while Scherzer keeps taking incremental steps toward a return as the Blue Jays continue to try solving for that spot.

Still at 31-28 after a season-high five straight wins, they’re the furthest above .500 they’ve been since sitting 12-8 on April 18, getting back there by attempting to optimize matchups and use all the elements they have on the roster at a given time.

“We know it’s going to happen,” Lukes, who came in for Straw to deliver his key single. “We’re not one of those teams where the starting nine is the nine for the whole game. Pretty much every single game somebody’s off the bench is going into the game. That makes it nice mentally. We’re prepared for it. We know it’s going to happen, as opposed to a random game once a week, hey, pinch hit. It makes pinch-hitting a little bit easier when it happens on a regular basis.”

Scoring on a regular basis does too, as evidenced by the positive results over the weekend. Can they do it consistently against the better teams that await? Are they more April’s dry spell or May’s resurgence at the plate?

Now that June is here, it’s time to find out.