Blue Jays take valuable lessons from walk-off sweep of Braves

TORONTO — For three hours, the Blue Jays and Braves held the door open for each other, begging their opponent to stroll via it and win.

Danny Jansen, bored with standing outdoors within the chilly, lastly determined to barge in.

Toronto’s catcher was the walk-off hero on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre, scorching a two-run single via the left facet of the infield within the backside of the ninth to seal a 6-5 win and a collection sweep over the Braves. At the top of a recreation so riddled with imperfections, it was outstanding to see Jansen drenched in water, waving up at a roaring crowd upon stealing the win.

“If you get an ice bath, that means something incredible happened,” Jansen stated. “It’s a special day. Obviously, this was my wife’s first Mother’s Day and this was a great way to cap it off.”

The air wasn’t simply chilly contained in the ballpark. It was blowing, and it mattered.

Atlanta botched a handful of routine fly balls within the outfield, with two gamers typically coming collectively on the final second as they tried to trace a knuckleball via the air. The Blue Jays made their share of errors, too, each defensively and on the bases. One was almost deadly, although, to start out the underside of the ninth inning.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led off the house half and launched a fly ball to the other area that he clearly thought was gone. Guerrero jogged out of the field and eased into his vast flip round first base, however then got here a sound as loud because the crack of his bat. It was the thump of the ball hitting off the wall.

He was held to a single, and following the win, supervisor John Schneider wasted no time saying that his star slugger in all probability ought to have been on second base to open the inning. It all labored out in the long run, however that play by itself was problematic.

“It’s nice when you win and it doesn’t come back to bite you,” Schneider stated. “We all thought he got it, too, and a guy like him usually knows. There were obviously weird conditions with the wind and the roof open today. They had a couple [of weird plays]. I think we should have been a bit more aware of that and a bit more aware on the bases.”

These are the conversations that nice groups — or not less than groups able to greatness — must have. There are classes even inside wins, and Sunday’s had been blatant.

It doesn’t reduce the significance of sweeping among the finest groups within the National League, however this wasn’t your common post-game victory celebration.

“You always take a win,” Schneider stated, “but you’ve got to reel guys in a little bit starting tomorrow. There’s things that we need to tighten up. I thought the last two days were good and today was a weird day. A lot of guys left on base, errors on both sides, us on the bases. You’ve got to tighten that up.”

The Blue Jays have been the comeback children this season, pulling off 10 come-from-behind wins, and their bullpen will be thanked for that. Anthony Bass, Jay Jackson, Trevor Richards and Nate Pearson mixed to provide Toronto 5 innings of scoreless aid to maintain the staff within the recreation after a tough outing from Yusei Kikuchi, who allowed three dwelling runs and 9 hits over simply four-plus innings.

Home runs have been an issue for Kikuchi, along with his 11 within the season tied for fourth in MLB. But that’s a tough adjustment to make for some pitchers, as a result of it’s necessary that Kikuchi doesn’t lose his aggression.

“I’ve continued to attack the zone, and sometimes when you attack the zone, you get hit,” Kikuchi stated via a membership interpreter. “We’ll go back and check the data and all of that, but I’ll continue to attack the zone moving forward.”

Like all the things else that went flawed in Sunday’s recreation, although, the house runs can be forgotten once we look again on the ultimate rating just a few days from now.

Consider this a fortunate escape. The Blue Jays will take the win, however they know that extra is required with the Yankees and Orioles coming to city, then a date with the Rays ready after. Tampa Bay, specifically, is way much less forgiving in the case of errors, and it gained’t be as affected person if Toronto hesitates on the door once more.