BOSTON -- The Blue Jays are built to score in bunches, and in Boston, business is booming.

Coming out of Tuesday night's 61-minute pregame rain delay, the Blue Jays breezed through a couple of sleepy innings and were about to waste the third when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. stepped to the plate with a runner on and two out. 

The Blue Jays exploded for eight runs with a two-out rally during which eight consecutive batters reached base, almost pulling off a repeat of their historic 28-run game July 22 at Fenway Park. That night, Toronto put together a two-out rally where 12 batters reached consecutively and 11 scored.

Tuesday’s 9-3 win over the Red Sox not only continued the Blue Jays’ recent stretch of success, giving them five wins in six games to shake off a dreadful start to August, it’s also another warning sign for the rest of the AL Wild Card picture that Toronto’s lineup is beginning to wake up.

“That’s them letting the game come to them,” manager John Schneider said. “They’re trusting their abilities, sticking to a really great approach and passing the baton to the next guy.”

Passing, passing and passing.

The third-inning rally all began with a double from Jackie Bradley Jr., returning to his old stomping grounds in blue for the first time, and he’d eventually come up again later in the inning to walk and score. Between Bradley Jr.’s bookends, though, the Blue Jays got base hits from Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Teoscar Hernández, Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio, and a walk from Matt Chapman before George Springer broke things open with a bases-loaded triple.

Springer has bounced in and out of the lineup lately, first with a right elbow injury that landed him on the IL for 10 days and then with a tender right knee after an unlucky foul ball. This lineup takes on an entirely different shape, though, when Springer is in it. He’s still in the process of building up to playing the field each day, but having an elite leadoff hitter slides the rest of this lineup into far more natural spots, allowing for the length that creates such massive innings.

Chapman has been key to all of this, too, shaking off a relatively slow first half to turn into every bit of the star the Blue Jays hoped they’d acquired in Spring Training. Chapman’s been on a power surge, with 24 home runs to date and a triple in Tuesday’s win, but he has an even greater appreciation for what Toronto is capable of in these strings of smaller moments.

“I think one of the best things we did is that -- I don’t even think we hit a home run tonight -- it’s impressive when we can score home runs when we’re not hitting homers,” Chapman said. “We walked, we hustled, we beat a ball out and hit a few singles. When you string together hits like that and quality at-bats, it makes it hard on teams to face us.”

The end result was 13 hits and five walks, a pair of numbers Toronto will take any night. This fits especially well with the Blue Jays’ aggressive new approach, giving them more opportunities to dictate the game on the bases and force their opponent to play a Blue Jays style of game, not the other way around.

Setting the stage for all of this was Ross Stripling, and that seems to be what he does best lately. Stripling gave the Blue Jays six innings of one-run ball, and he’s no longer just the swingman filling in. Stripling is a true starter, capable of both quality and consistency, perhaps the best story of Toronto's season.

“Coming down the stretch with most teams prior, I’ve never really had a big role,” Stripling said. “I’ve had some big years, but I don’t think I’ve ever really been a guy that the team has relied on or expected big things from in a playoff push. This is fun to be on the bump every fifth day when every win really matters. I’m proud of that.”

Are these outbursts sustainable? Of course not. A more consistent offense from day to day or game to game is always preferred, but we’re seeing again just how high this club’s ceiling can be when the lineup gets rolling. Pair that with a rotation that’s found its footing again, and we’re beginning to talk about how far the Blue Jays can go, not why they won’t.