Teoscar's torrid run continues in Toronto win

SEATTLE -- It’s too early for must-win games, but considering the weekend the Blue Jays were having in Seattle, they needed Sunday’s victory to salvage the series.

The 8-3 win was a Blue Jays classic, as they jumped on the opposing starter early and coasted to the finish line, with Teoscar Hernández leading the way. Over the past two months, Hernández has returned to his Silver Slugger form from a breakout 2020 season, and this past week might be the best baseball he’s played in a Toronto uniform.

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“I’m very confident in myself,” Hernández said. “I think it’s the hard work I’ve done in the offseason, even last year and the year before. When you’re having a good season, and when you have a good season the year before, that’s when you go to the field and the plate every day with confidence, knowing that you’re going to do well and do something good that day. It’s nothing different. I’m just trying to stay positive.”

Hernández went 3-for-4 with a solo home run, his 20th of the season, and he now has a whopping 17 hits in his past eight games. The days of Hernández simply teasing with his talent are over. The 28-year-old has developed into a true all-around hitter, and while it’s difficult to grab much of the spotlight when you’re hitting behind George Springer, Marcus Semien, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, Hernández deserves some more.

“The funny thing about this is that not many people talk about Teoscar Hernández,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “I haven’t seen it anywhere. They should start. This guy was a Silver Slugger last year, this year he was an All-Star. He’s hitting over .300 with 81 RBIs. He’s having a great year.”

The timing matters here for the Blue Jays because of how they got to Sunday. On Friday, they lost to the Mariners on a walk-off bases-loaded walk. On Saturday, Springer left the game with a left ankle injury after crashing into the wall and the bullpen imploded, leading to another loss.

The good news to go along with Sunday's win is that Springer made “good improvement” overnight, Montoyo said, and the club is still optimistic that this is just a “day-to-day” injury. Also, another loss would have allowed the Mariners to leapfrog the Blue Jays in the American League Wild Card standings. Instead, Toronto remains 4 1/2 games back of the Red Sox, who are in the second Wild Card spot, and two back of the Yankees, the first team out.

This also shows how thin the Blue Jays' margin for error is over these next six-plus weeks. After their incredible return home to Toronto and the 9-2 run that followed, the Blue Jays looked like a team that was one more hot streak away from a trip to the postseason. The other teams in this race have earned its spots, though, and if the Blue Jays stumble, things can quickly snowball in the other direction.

“Obviously, last night and the night before were tough losses, but we came back and won today,” Hernández said. “That’s all that matters. What is in the past is in the past. We’re going to concentrate on the [next] two games we have in Washington and try to win them both. We’ll try to go home in a good spot and try to make a run."

Hernández had some help Sunday, of course, with home runs from Randal Grichuk, Semien and Corey Dickerson, his first since joining the Blue Jays. Starter Steven Matz allowed only one unearned run as he battled through five innings, while the bullpen closed things out, the only blemish being a Kyle Seager two-run homer allowed by Adam Cimber.

Following a much-needed off-day on Monday, the Blue Jays are staring at a stretch of opportunity. They’ll start with a pair of games against the Nationals, who sit last in the National League East after a Trade Deadline selloff, and then they welcome the Tigers to Toronto for three games in what should be another winnable series. Toronto will be challenged by the White Sox later on that seven-game homestand, but then it faces Detroit and last-place Baltimore to close August.

The season’s final month isn’t nearly as forgiving, so if there’s a time for the Blue Jays to make a run that pushes them over the top, it’s now. This weekend’s series in Seattle wasn’t the start they needed by any means, but grabbing a win on the back end mattered as much as a game on Aug. 15 can.