Blue Jays bounce back again behind another dominant outing from Dylan Cease

It's felt as big as any win could feel in August. The Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 4-3 on Saturday afternoon (Aug. 22) in a game that became a nail biter the later it got.

The Blue Jays dropped the series opener on Friday night in the Bronx, but bounced back for the win on Saturday afternoon to improve to 16-9 since July 27. That was really when this run started. They beat the Nationals 3-2 in Washington that day, which began a streak of seven straight series wins (not including the one-off against the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 6).

The Blue Jays have also not lost back-to-back games since losing two straight at home to the Tampa Bay Rays on July 21-22. But they also haven't managed to win back to back games since they took the first two games against the Yankees at home Aug. 14-15. Since then, they are 3-3, which is fine, considering they've only played the Yankees and the Rays in that stretch. Holding serve at .500 isn't the worst place to be in, but it also feels like they've left a few wins on the table at the same time.

This game was defined by another superb road outing by Dylan Cease. While he allowed a run in the seventh inning to cut the Blue Jays' lead to 3-1 at the time, he was pretty much perfect up to that point. He hadn't allowed a hit going into that inning, which extended his scoreless innings streak on the road to 42.0, passing Orel Hershiser's mark of 41 set in 1988.

Cease's final line read 6.1 IP, two hits, one earned run and eight strikeouts with five walks. He didn't have his best stuff, but he battled, and the Yankees virtually had no answer for most of the afternoon.

The Blue Jays' bullpen picked up the slack as Spencer Miles came into the game in the seventh and escaped a bases loaded jam. Louis Varland stranded the tying run on second base to close out the game after a Jazz Chisholm lead-off double. Even though Tyler Rogers gave up a two-run home run to Luis Garcia to cut the lead to 4-3, the 'pen has been on fire over this stretch.

Toronto's relievers have posted the eighth best ERA since Jul. 27 (3.03) while covering the second most innings (107.0) in which they've held batters to a .221 batting average. It's safe to say the Blue Jays would not be in this position if it wasn't for their pitching as they are getting just enough offense to win some of these games.

Blue Jays are winning games, but offense still needs to find that next gear

The Blue Jays have gone 5-for-32 with Runners in Scoring Position in the first two games of this series. They smacked the ball around at Tropicana Field earlier this week, which felt like it could be a turning point, but they've cooled off significantly in the two games against the Yankees. They've hit .253 with an OPS of just .696 since Jul. 27 (19th in the league).

They did get a big home run from Nathan Lukes though. His eighth of the season to lead off the top of the eighth proved to be the difference in this game. The Blue Jays would love it if one of their left-handed hitting outfielders could just start slugging down the stretch here.

They would also love it if Vladimir Guerrero Jr. turned his season around. He was back in the lineup on Saturday, coming off the 7-day IL for a concussion he suffered against the Yankees at Rogers Centre last weekend.

Vladdy went 2-for-5 with a run scored, but he also could have beat out a single in the top of the fourth inning that would have cashed another run. The Blue Jays had the bases loaded and Guerrero smashed one to second base that Chisholm bobbled, recovered and still had time to throw out Vladdy.

The Blue Jays' first baseman wasn't hustling out of the box and then slowed up before reaching first base, which ended the inning. On one hand, he did score on a ground ball to right field in the first inning. He was on second base with two outs and George Springer got one through the infield and Vladdy came flying home to get the first run on the board, which you love to see. On the other, when the game came down to a single run, it's hard not to reflect on that play in the fourth.

A win on Sunday for Toronto would give them another series victory, and give them a winning road trip.

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