Blue Jays win important first game after Bichette’s late inning heroics

The Toronto Blue Jays have been on a roll as of late. They went on a ten-game road trip, facing the Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, and Texas Rangers and ended up going 8-2, an impressive feat considering the Orioles and Rangers can give any team a tough time.

Their next series at home gets no easier, as they welcome the Tampa Bay Rays for a five-game series that includes a doubleheader later today, with the first contest kicking off last night with José Berríos on the mound for the Blue Jays.

Berríos was great last night, going 6.1 innings while allowing just two runs (one earned) off of six hits, walking one and striking out four on 92 pitches, 54 of which were strikes. This is fantastic to see for the Jays, as the right-hander has been up and down all year with his consistency and a strong outing last night is what the club needs heading into the end of the season and potentially a playoff race.

The Puerto Rican product ended up with a no-decision as the Blue Jays could only muster one run leading up to the eighth inning, with the Rays up 2-1. The game was not without some dramatics, as a fastball up and in on Bo Bichette got the Jays shortstop all fired up at home plate followed by Berríos hitting Francisco Mejia, prompting warnings from the umpires and some back and forth between the two dugouts.

Nothing spilled over like the Baltimore Oriole series but with eight more games to be played between the two teams this season, it is definitely setting the stage for some passionate baseball that is certainly replicating a playoff atmosphere.

The Blue Jays won the first game of an important five-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays off a late-inning Bo Bichette two-run home run.

Fast forward to the bottom of the eighth and Bichette decided to take matters into his own hands, launching a wall scraper of a home run off of reliever Jason Adam to left centre, cashing in Raimel Tapia and giving the Jays a one-run lead heading into the ninth.

Bichette has been on fire since the season turned over into September, as he owns a .511/.549/1.128 slash line through his last 47 at-bats, adding six doubles, one triple, and seven home runs, including a three home run against the Baltimore Orioles back on September 5th. He also recently took home AL Player of the Week honours for his impressive play as of late.

Jordan Romano came on to close the ninth, with a fantastic defensive play by Jackie Bradley Jr. in centre field to get a tough ball that would have certainly been an extra-base hit had he not gotten to it. When all was said and done, Romano notched the save and the Blue Jays got a very important win to start the series.

After the win last night, the Jays are now in the second spot within the AL Wild Card and sit a half-game ahead of the Rays and 5.5 games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East with 22 games left on the season. They will send Alek Manoah to the mound for game #1 today while likely calling Mitch White back up for game #2, although this is not confirmed yet.