Blue Jays Kick Start 2nd Half With D-backs Sweep

The Blue Jays came out of the All-Star break with a sweep of the Diamondbacks, looking to kick start a second-half surge.

Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

The Blue Jays are making a habit of hot starts out of the break.

Each of the past two years, Toronto’s swept the first set out of the All-Star pause, setting up second-half surges that nudged the Jays up the standings.

Looking for a similar back-half bump in 2023, the Jays came out of the break swinging once again. With a 7-5 win over the D-Backs on Sunday, Toronto secured yet another sweeping start to the second half.

"I think coming out of the chute like that, after a little bit of a layoff, it's nice to get three in the pocket, enjoy the off day tomorrow and keep rolling," manager John Schneider said.

For the third-straight day, the Blue Jays pulled away in the middle innings. After Arizona reliever Kevin Ginkel trotted in from the bullpen and performed his warm-up pitches in the fifth, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. met him with a first-pitch swing. The subsequent deep fly to center wasn't enough to clear the outfield wall, but it did cash Kevin Kiermaier from third base.

The Guerrero sacrifice would be all the lead the Jays would get for most of the contest, having to milk the slim advantage for three innings with a patchwork bullpen. With closer Jordan Romano down with a funky back (day-to-day), Schneider had to shuffle the ball from Jay Jackson to Tim Mayza, Trevor Richards, Yimi Garcia, Mitch White, and ultimately Erik Swanson.

While Richards ran into some trouble in the seventh, pushing the tying runner over to second with a pair of walks, Danny Jansen bailed his battery mate out of the jam with a bullet back-pick to first. The throw slithered in behind a diving Jake McCarthy, as Guerrero Jr. tagged the Arizona runner for the inning's third out.

After one more clean inning of relief, Jansen decided to give his Romano-less bullpen some breathing room. The backstop ripped a liner into the left-center ally with the bases loaded in the eight. The double cleared the bases, scored three Toronto runs, and allowed temporary closer Erik Swanson to sit down in the 'pen — for a moment. Swanson had to get back up a few moments later when Mitch White failed to slam home the save in the ninth.

There it is, the big hit.

Danny Jansen, the most underrated player on this roster, breaks it wide open with a bases-loaded double for the #BlueJays pic.twitter.com/ujf9nLbMoL

— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) July 16, 2023

There are still 68 games and almost three months to play, but the Jays’ playoff chances buoy up and down with each loss, even now. They’ve thrust themselves right in the middle of a thick American League Wild-Card race, a few games up on playoff safety.

Pulling off another second-half surge could help pad that lead, and maybe sneak out home-field advantage. And perhaps, if the surge is strong enough, sneak back into the AL East conversation.

A sweep out of the break is a good start.