TORONTO -- The Blue Jays had a late night, so they decided to push Thursday’s batting practice back a few hours -- to 7:07 p.m. ET.
Thursday’s offensive eruption couldn’t have come at a better time. It is the ultimate opportunity to exhale after a tight, tense stretch of baseball on the road. After scoring just six runs in their last six games, the Blue Jays blew the doors off the A’s with a 12-0 win that included an eight-run second inning.
Ernie Clement had five RBIs in that inning alone, beginning with the first of four Blue Jays home runs on the night. Clement is just the second Blue Jays hitter to drive in five runs in the same inning, joining Edwin Encarnacion, who did it on July 26, 2013, against the Astros.
“It’s just nice to take a deep breath and not be fighting in a 0-0 game like we were all series the last week or so,” Clement said. “I think we have to use this as momentum and keep doing it.”
This was just the beginning, though. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed Clement with a moonshot to left field before Bo Bichette and George Springer chipped in a long ball each. This felt like an offense suddenly lurching back to life after a long nightmare, and it all started in the ninth inning Wednesday in Arlington against the Rangers when Bichette launched a pinch-hit, two-run home run to end a frustrating road trip on a high note.
“It takes a hit like Bo’s to get you going and you have to be encouraged by the amount of baserunners we’re getting,” said manager John Schneider. “It just comes down to somebody getting a big hit and letting the floodgates open.”
Well, they’re open.
The Blue Jays landed back in Toronto in the early morning hours Thursday and Schneider didn’t get to sleep until after 5 a.m., so the Blue Jays went without batting practice Thursday. Some hitters swung in the cages, but it was a toned-down day as the Blue Jays tried to wake up and “embrace the [crap],” as Schneider put it. Sometimes, it’s not about lineup changes or rah-rah speeches in the clubhouse. The strangest little things can shake up a team, and finally, the Blue Jays feel like they have a sense of life again.
“Baseball is funny,” Schneider said. “Every day is different and this was one of those days. Ernie got us on the board, then Bo and Vlad. It was a little contagious today in that second inning. That’s about as good as you can draw it up.”
Now, for what feels like the 100th time this season, the Blue Jays are back to where they started at .500 (28-28). This team has been one game below .500 11 different times this season, constantly flirting with a run that’s never really materialized, but this has to be their most encouraging step yet in that direction. The mighty Phillies still loom next week, but the Blue Jays still have three games left in this series against the A’s to create a little space between themselves and this .500 mark, which they’ve had this strange, magnetic attraction to.
Powerhouse performances like Thursday have been so rare for the Blue Jays, and when you stretch back to their 14-0 win over the Padres on May 21 as part of a series sweep, it’s what makes this team so difficult to understand. Sometimes, they score six runs in a minute. Sometimes, they score six runs in a week.
They’d love to find that magic spot in the middle where they can enjoy the highs without such dreadful lows, which is almost entirely up to the offense and its timely hitting. Power is the shortcut, though, which was the most encouraging takeaway from Thursday’s blowout.
“That felt good,” said Guerrero, who said he got to sleep around 6:00 a.m. this morning. “Especially coming back to Texas and getting in so late, to hit a lot of home runs felt great.”
Both Clement and Schneider made the same analogy after the win. This was a chance to breathe, to exhale, to start fresh again. There’s no better place to start fresh than .500, and after last week, there’s no better way to start a homestand than what the Blue Jays just did to the A’s.