Blue Jays Finding Ways to Escape with Wins in Playoff Chase

Toronto’s lineup has struggled to score consistently, but timely swings keep rescuing them.

Nathan Lukes rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run against the New York Yankees Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Blue Jays have perfected one of the most stressful ways to win. They start slowly, make games much tighter than they need to be and still find a way out of the situations they create for themselves.

That style was on full display Saturday against the Yankees. Toronto managed to win 4-3 despite piling up 15 hits and stranding 12 runners. Nathan Lukes provided what looked like an insurance run with a solo homer in the eighth inning.

The Yankees scored twice in the bottom half. Without Lukes’ homer, this could have been remembered as a collapse born from wasted chances rather than the kind of narrow escape you would expect from an “Indiana Jones” movie.

Toronto Keeps Creating Its Own Pressure

Myles Straw is greeted by Vladimir Guerrero Jr after scoring a run in the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Toronto entered the week ranked 29th in MLB in scoring and averaged just 1.84 runs through the first five innings, the lowest mark in baseball, per Sportsnet. The Blue Jays rank fourth in singles yet 29th in home runs, an offensive divide that forces them to string together multiple hits to score. That formula can work with a lineup full of elite speed or contact hitters, but Toronto has not been consistent enough to make it reliable.

Even manager John Schneider acknowledged the issue Saturday, per MLB.com. Four runs from 15 hits was not enough production for his liking, especially considering how many opportunities Toronto created with runners in scoring position.

“It would be nice to get a couple of hits with guys in scoring position or just continue to add on,” Schneider said. “You look up and it’s four runs on 15 hits, you want it to be a little bit more. We had chances but just didn’t get that. Kudos to Nate, that’s a big home run.”

Was Lukes’ home run clutch and ultimately essential to Toronto’s win? Yes. Should the game have been far more comfortable if the Blue Jays had executed with the bases loaded? Also yes.

Saturday was hardly an isolated example. Charles McAdoo delivered a go-ahead double against New York earlier this month after Toronto had spent six innings stuck on one run, including wasting a two-on, one-out opportunity in the sixth. Against Philadelphia on Aug. 9, the Blue Jays managed just two runs through seven innings before Andrés Giménez delivered a two-out, two-run single in the eighth to erase a 5-3 deficit.

That makes simply labeling the Blue Jays as “clutch” or “not clutch” an oversimplification. Their inability to cash in on key at-bats early is part of why so many games come down to the wire. But when Toronto finally does cash in, those swings tend to matter a whole lot more.

At times, the whole affair has felt like a story where the plot bends around its protagonist. Time and again, when the Blue Jays are backed into a corner, someone delivers at the last possible moment. With the playoffs nearing and Toronto firmly in the race, though, it cannot afford to rely on that formula. The Blue Jays need to bury opponents when given the opportunity, or one of these narrow escapes could eventually come back to bite them.