TORONTO — There are many ways to describe what has led the Toronto Blue Jays to their current position as the best team in the American League. Mark Shapiro has a simple way of summarizing it.
“I think we've just established our brand of baseball,” said the Blue Jays president on Tuesday afternoon during his mid-season media availability in front of the team’s dugout at Rogers Centre.
That identity involves a few components, according to Shapiro. He used descriptors such as “toughness” and “cohesiveness” and that’s translated into the lineup’s knack for consistently solving tough pitchers, he noted, before highlighting that the Blue Jays are hard to strike out and also play sound defence, a combination that applies pressure to the opposition.
“That identity is married to the culture and the values that our players bring to the field every day,” said Shapiro. “We've got great players but our results have not been driven by individual players. It's really been driven by collective efforts and it's taken a while to kind of form that as a team identity, but we've seen it through the toughest times this year when we bounce back like Sunday [versus the Los Angeles Dodgers] and throughout the year when we've hit rough patches or lost players that were important and key for periods of time.”
Hours later, as if on cue, that Blue Jays’ identity was on full display during a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the first of a three-game set in Toronto. There was contact hitting, highlight-reel defence and a strong outing from starter Jose Berrios to go along with the cherry on top, a pivotal three-run home run from Ernie Clement that was the serendipitous result of his own mistake.
With runners on first and second with no outs in the fourth inning, manager John Schneider called for Clement to bunt. He didn’t and instead deposited a first-pitch slider from Cubs right-hander Javier Assad over the left field fence to give the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead.
“I missed the sign,” Clement said with a sheepish grin after the game. “I was ready for the bunt sign. I'm looking really hard and I must have just missed it.
“If you're going to do that and miss a sign, you better hit a homer or they're going to be pretty pissed at you,” he added. “I'm glad I put a good one on it.”
“You know you're living right when you're doing that,” quipped Schneider.
Clement’s homer might have been the attention grabber, but the Blue Jays were doing plenty right on Tuesday.
The home side opened the scoring in the first when Bo Bichette singled, advanced to second on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s single, and scored on Alejandro Kirk’s base hit up the middle.
Ty France doubled to open the second frame and Blue Jays third base coach Carlos Febles sent him on Andres Gimenez’s bloop single to left. France, whose sprint speed ranks in the bottom five percentile of MLB, was tagged out on his slide to the plate, but the daring send nonetheless resulted in a close play that required perfect execution from Cubs left fielder Ian Happ.
Pressure on the opposition? Checkmark.
The defensive component showed up in spades, too. Nathan Lukes made a nice diving catch on a sinking liner to rob Nico Hoerner of a hit in the second inning and, in the fourth, Gimenez — activated from the injured list ahead of Tuesday’s game — completed a slick sliding play at second base.
The best of all came later in that inning when Hoerner shot a sharp grounder to the 5-6 hole, where Bichette lunged to his right to snare it before turning and throwing to first on the run. The ball sailed into the glove of first baseman Guerrero Jr., who hit the splits while outstretching his glove just enough to catch it before the runner arrived.
“Bo does a great job going to his right,” said Clement. “I get to watch him work every day and he's gotten so consistent on that play. And, I don't know how Vladdy can do the splits like that. That's pretty wild but that's a great play.”
The sequence brought the crowd of 43,003 to its feet and earned kudos from Berrios, whose mettle was tested earlier, during a 38-pitch third inning.
The right-hander loaded the bases with two walks that followed a groundball that Bichette bobbled, allowing Dansby Swanson to reach base safely. Berrios bore down on Cubs cleanup hitter Carson Kelly, though, retiring him with a nicely placed inside sinker for a called third strike that ended the bend-but-don’t-break inning.
“[I had] the same mindset I had from the beginning of the game,” Berrios said. “Just make pitch by pitch at that time. I had baserunners on that inning and I just tried to make quality pitches. And I did it.”
Toughness? Another box checked.
Berrios mowed down seven of the next nine hitters before he was removed in the sixth inning for left-hander Mason Fluharty. In total, the right-hander allowed two hits over 5.1 scoreless frames, striking out three while walking four batters.
In all, it was an exciting win for the Blue Jays (70-50) over a Cubs team that owns a 67-51 record that’s good for sixth-best in baseball.
“I find a lot of joy in watching this team play because of the way they play,” said Shapiro of the Blue Jays. “And I appreciate tough at-bats, love that style of baseball. I think that translates well. We need to certainly play our best to beat the best and we haven't always done that. But playing our best at the right time is what's going to be most important.
“I think the toughness this team represents has been characteristic of the outcome and results,” he continued. “And that's what I've taken the most pride and joy in watching.”
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