Blue Jays week in review: the good, the bad and the noteworthy for August 4

The Toronto Blue Jays welcomed some new faces to the team and brought back some old ones with Daulton Varsho coming off the IL, but in the last seven days everybody in Blue Jays land was humbled by two teams they should have easily handled. Toronto went 2-5 dropping back-to-back series for the first time since May. However, thanks to a dominant stretch where they went 22-7 since June 24, they afforded themselves a week where they could underperform and still have a cushion in the race for the AL East crown.

Toronto (65-48) are still three games up in that division race, but now have the Red Sox on their tail instead of the Yankees - as Boston has gone 34-19 since the beginning of June to overtake New York who went 25-30 over the same stretch. Toronto need a hard reset this week as they take on the Colorado Rockies and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Here's a look at what led to the Blue Jays dismal output this past week.

Blue Jays week in review: the good, the bad and the noteworthy for August 4

The Good: Reinforcements have arrived and more are on the way

The Blue Jays did what they needed to do at the trade deadline on Thursday, adding some much needed upgrades to the bullpen in Louis Varland and Seranthony Dominguez, while getting a potentially sneaky bat in their lineup with Ty France coming over in a deal with the Twins. The bullpen additions came at just the right time as the relief corps was starting to look depleted. Both Varland and Dominguez jumped into the action right away and had solid first impressions with the Blue Jays before faltering in Sundays finale against the Royals.

The Blue Jays also got Alejandro Krik back from a 7-day IL concussion stint, and welcomed Varsho back after his second lengthy IL stint this season. Varsho missed the first month of the season, rehabbing from right shoulder surgery and gave the Blue Jays a real...shot in the arm (pun intended) when he debuted on April 29. In his first 24 games Varsho brought the power the Blue Jays had been lacking over the first month, as he smashed eight home runs and drove in 20 runs - while the Blue Jays went 15-9 with him in the lineup.

Varsho was then removed from a game on May 31 due to left hamstring discomfort and he remained on the shelf until this past Friday when he rejoined the club for their series against Kansas City. He didn't get a hit in either game, finishing with a walk and four strikeouts - but his presence helps lengthen the lineup in the absence of George Springer.

The Blue Jays are also looking forward to welcoming their other trade deadline acquisition in former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber. Bieber, acquired from the Cleveland Guardians, is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and had his first outing in Buffalo on Sunday evening, where he struck out six over five innings, allowing five hits, a walk, and two runs. His fastball averaged 93.1 mph and he threw 47 of his 62 pitches for strikes.

The Bad: Injuries, allowing too many runs and not scoring enough

On the other side of the infirmary, the Blue Jays made three moves in the past week regarding player injuries, while the on-field performance took a nose dive from where it was the week prior. It started on Sunday (July 27) when Kirk was first placed on the IL when he took a batted ball off the mask - but as stated he returned to the team yesterday (Sunday, August 3).

On July 28, they transferred Bowden Francis to the 60-day IL. Reducing the likelihood of any late season return or resurgence from a guy who was lights out last August and September. On Friday, August 1, the Blue Jays placed George Springer on the 7-day IL, retroactive to his injury from July 29, when he took a ball to the helmet in their game against the Orioles in Baltimore.

Lastly, the Blue Jays may have avoided another injury when back up catcher Tyler Heineman took a foul tip square to the mask in their game on Saturday - but according to Manager John Schneider, Heineman was not experiencing any concussion like symptoms.

With all of that out of the way - the guys who managed to stay on the field didn't get the job done. They were outscored 56-30 and scored more than four runs in a game just once all week while holding the opposition to under seven runs just twice, and lost one of those games as well.

The noteworthy: Mad Max making up for lost time

When the Blue Jays acquired future Hall of Fame pitcher Max Scherzer in the offseason, they did so with the hope that he would be able to stabalize the back end of the rotation while building upon his incredible HOF resume. Things didn't go as planned as Scherzer threw just three innings in March, and didn't return to the team until the end of June, nursing a thumb injury.

But as he's returned as slowly built up his workload, Scherzer is giving the Blue Jays exactly what they were asking for when he signed that one-year $15 million deal. In arguably his best outing of the season on Sunday, he kept the Royals in check throwing six innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts, giving up just five hits and not walking anyone. This comes after his seven inning outing in Detroit last Sunday in which he struck out 11 batters, giving up three earned runs on three hits.

These back to back outings are incredibly encouraging to see for both the fans and the front office, even as the Blue Jays made a move to add to their rotation in the Bieber deal.