The Blue Jays went into New York needing a series win against the Yankees. A strong showing against their division rivals pushed them within a game of .500 and made a strong statement, heading into a big month.
Here are some takeaways from the series:
Devon Travis is back just in time
You’ll have to forgive most Jays fans for forgetting what Devon Travis brought to the team last season before going down with a shoulder injury. Ryan Goins filled in seamlessly filled and the Jays’ emotion-packed fall gave many of us short memories. But Travis was one the lone bright spots on the Jays roster early last season. In April he hit .325 with six home runs and 19 RBI. After missing most of 2015, Travis returned to the Jays lineup for the second of the games against the Yankees, after short stints in A-ball and AAA. He scored the go-ahead run, charging from first to home on Ryan Goins’s double in the Jays 8–4 win on Wednesday. Travis’s return provides a much-needed boost to a Jays lineup that has sorely under-produced so far this season. He drove in the Jays’ third run on Thursday with a broken-bat single, and made several key plays on defence.
Martin finds Martin, finally
April and May have been cruel to poor Russell Martin, who was simply atrocious at the plate heading into New York. His batting average has been under .200 most of the season so far, he hadn’t hit a home run in 124 at-bats, and he hadn’t an extra base hit since April. And then came his two–home run, 3-RBI showing in Wednesday night’s 8–4 win over the Yankees. (Fellow Canadian Michael Saunders also went yard in the game.) Martin went 0 for 4, with two strikeouts to finish the series in the Jays 3–1 win on Thursday, but here’s hoping the double home run night means he’s starting to rediscover whatever he’d lost.
Starters keeps rolling
R.A. Dickey had a rough outing to open the series, giving up four runs on five hits in a losing cause on Tuesday, but Marco Estrada and J.A. Happ each delivered stellar performances to secure the series win. Estrada carried a two-hit outing into the seventh on Wednesday and Happ followed that with a three-hit, one-run showing in seven on Thursday, before Gavin Floyd and Roberto Osuna closed out the win. Happ has proven that the success he had with the Pirates last season was more than just a hot streak. He’s given up three earned runs or less in 19 of his last 20 starts.
