{"id":863461,"date":"2026-08-19T07:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/863461\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T07:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:12:09","slug":"blue-jays-find-power-in-romping-of-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/863461\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays find power in romping of Rays"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2013 The Tampa Bay Rays are built around three high-ceiling hitters in Junior Caminero, Jonathan Aranda and Yandy Diaz, secondary pieces they can mix and match for the need of the moment, and their usual high standard of pitching and defence. On both sides of the ball, their opponents are under constant pressure, a model that\u2019s produced the American League\u2019s best record to this point and one that feels very familiar to the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we started going real good last year, we were doing that,\u201d said manager John Schneider. \u201cWe were advancing on base hits, we were forcing the issue, you put the ball in play you’re going to try to make some teams make some mistakes, and they do a really good job. \u2026 Tampa, everyone goes to them being pesky, but it\u2019s like you\u2019ve got a dude with 35 homers in the middle of the order, too. You\u2019ve got to defend both.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays couldn\u2019t do that during their first three series with the AL East leaders this season, losing eight of 10 games. But they out-Rayed the Rays in the opener of a three-game set Tuesday night, riding big nights from Alejandro Kirk, who fell a triple short of the cycle, and George Springer, who had three hits, and contributions up and down the lineup to a 10-5 thumping.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is the team, especially the offence, that we’ve had since the beginning of the year,\u201d Kirk said through interpreter Hector Lebron. \u201cBut obviously lately we’ve been playing good baseball, good offence, good at-bats, clean baseball. Definitely this is who we are, and hopefully we can continue doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jose Soriano mostly kept the Rays under wraps through 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits, and was helped out by a pair of 3-6-1 double plays, one off the bat of Aranda with the bases loaded in the third and another off the bat of Liam Hicks with two on in the fifth, which started with a strong pick and throw by Kazuma Okamoto at first.<\/p>\n

That allowed the offence to keep the heat on Rays starter Nick Martinez, who allowed six runs and didn\u2019t make it out of the fourth, and a bullpen worn down from a weekend series versus the Baltimore Orioles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first (double play), I got fired up right when I caught the ball. The second one, I was a little tired; I tried to breathe a little bit,\u201d said Soriano. \u201cIt’s very important, especially with the situations I had today – double plays – I have to cover the base; we need to be able to be good fielders. It’s tough to make those plays.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pivotally, the Blue Jays paired some slug with the grind-out offence they rode to a 5-2 homestand versus the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, as they hit three homers in a game for only the ninth time this season, getting a two-run shot from Kirk in the third, an Okamoto solo shot to open the fifth and Josh Smith\u2019s two-run shot in the seventh.<\/p>\n

Springer\u2019s RBI single in the first cashed in a Kirk double to open the scoring, and he came around when Jesus Sanchez banged a double off the left-field wall, while they went up 6-0 in the fourth when Brett Bateman, continuing to play the catalyst atop the lineup, scored on a wild pitch and Kirk added another RBI single.<\/p>\n

Bateman\u2019s RBI single in the fifth came after Okamoto\u2019s 25th\u00a0homer while Smith\u2019s drive pushed the game further out of reach, as the Blue Jays (62-65) won for the 14th\u00a0time in 21 games, this time doing it without leverage. They hadn\u2019t put up double-digit runs since a 10-0 win at San Francisco on July 8, and now they\u2019re on the ascent in the wild-card standings rather than trying to pause a slide.<\/p>\n

\u201cKirk is swinging the bat really well; that’s a tremendous at-bat with the runner at second trying to move him and then getting on top of a fastball (for the homer),\u201d said Schneider. \u201cBut you get three home runs, and you get some timely hits; that’s really, really important, especially against a good pitching team. So I liked the way that they kept doing what they’re good at. Smitty had a good day, just kept that ball fair. Hit and run, stealing bases, everything was important.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays anticipated nights like this on the regular coming into the season, behind high-ceiling production from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Springer, Kirk and Okamoto with support from Daulton Varsho, but things haven\u2019t played out that way.<\/p>\n

While Okamoto has provided more than expected \u2013 at 25 homers, he moved past Eric Hinske\u2019s club rookie record of 24 \u2013 Guerrero\u2019s season is an enigma; Springer\u2019s production has understandably slid while Kirk broke his thumb a week into the season and struggled initially when he returned June 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over his last 29 games, though, he\u2019s batting .393\/.455\/.589, providing vital production when it\u2019s been badly needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter an injury like that, it wasn’t easy,\u201d said Kirk. \u201cYou’re trying to help the team right away. I believe those first two weeks I was maybe trying to do too much. But I got my rhythm, and I’m feeling good at the plate, and I can contribute to help our team win some games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Springer, fighting through a left shoulder issue for roughly two weeks now, had just two hits during last week\u2019s homestand but two singles, a double and a walk, perhaps helped by a full day off Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guerrero, meanwhile, is making progress in his recovery from a concussion suffered Friday night, hitting in the cage and running on the field, and could progress to live at-bats at the club\u2019s complex in nearby Dunedin if his symptoms continue to ease.<\/p>\n

If he can find his form, combined with what the additions of Bateman, Smith, Charles McAdoo and the intriguing Daz Cameron bring to the lineup, the Blue Jays offence could really start resembling the initial vision for it heading into the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve got to adjust around what you have a little bit; ideally, you can do a little bit of both,\u201d said Schneider, referring to both creating runs and slugging for them, the way they did against the Rays during a productive night at the Trop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2013 The Tampa Bay Rays are built around three high-ceiling hitters in Junior Caminero, Jonathan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":["post-863461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}