Blue Jays Lineup Looks To Keep Impressive Streak Going Following Loss Against Rays
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The Toronto Blue Jays in the last few weeks, have been an entirely different ball club than what had been seen for the majority of this season. They have an entirely different aura surrounding them as they search for their seventh straight series victory.
That isn't the only streak that the ballclub is looking to keep alive. Dating back to when the team was at Fenway Park playing the Boston Red Sox, the team has gone 10-0 following a loss. The Blue Jays have not dropped back-to-back games in about a month now.
The most impressive part of this feat has come as of late, when the offense looked quite stagnant against the New York Yankees in the final game of their series at Rogers Centre last Sunday. This was followed by a 10-run explosion against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday.
Alejandro Kirk goes deep for the second straight night!
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) August 19, 2026
His 120 wRC+ leads all Blue Jays hitters, min. 60 PA 🔥 pic.twitter.com/f0KvusTARD
It is an AL East showdown going on at the Trop in Florida right now, and even though Toronto clawed its way back into Wednesday's game after finding itself down 7-1, it came up just short of the comeback, dropping it by one run.
The Jays had a chance to take the series, and even though it didn't happen already, it still can by the end of Thursday with Shane Bieber on the bump and the bats finally coming to life.
Thursday Starting Lineup With Series on the Line at the Trop
There isn't a man hotter in the lineup, maybe in baseball, than Alejandro Kirk, who is 5-for-11 this series with five RBI to complement. It isn't shocking to see him still hitting at the top of the order, and that is where he will stay for the foreseeable future.
- 3B Charles McAdoo
- LF Daz Cameron
- C Alejandro Kirk
- DH George Springer
- 1B Kazuma Okamoto
- SS Andres Gimenez
- 2B Ernie Clement
- CF Myles Straw
- RF Nathan Lukes
With a lefty on the mound, the top of the order is mixed up a bit as Nathan Lukes slides way down, and most notably, there is no Brett Bateman, who left Wednesday night's game with hamstring tightness. He is getting a precautionary MRI, and will know more later.
The Jays just need to keep their heads above water and survive this brutal stretch that they have had. The team’s schedule forced them to face the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Rays, and then, once again, the Yankees.
If Toronto can stay right in the thick of this wild-card race, then this ballclub will be playing October baseball. For now, all they can do is take it one game at a time, and that starts Thursday afternoon.
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.