Among the Blue Jays’ flurry of moves this past offseason, one free-agent acquisition stood out among the rest: George Springer, and his franchise-record-setting $150 million deal. Injuries have kept Springer out of all but four games, though, though Toronto’s other marquee signee -- Marcus Semien -- has shined.

Semien did not shine right away, at least not in the box score. While adjusting to a new everyday position at second base -- having spent his past six seasons as Oakland’s steady shortstop -- Semien posted a .658 OPS in April, with just five extra-base hits.

• Box score

But April anguish has yielded to a marvelous May, and Semien kept his remarkable month going Friday with a trio of extra-base hits in a 9-7 loss to the Rays in 12 innings at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla. Semien now leads the American League in hits (30) and the Majors in extra-base hits (16) this month.

Semien doubled in the first inning, tripled in the second and homered in the fifth. He then had three cracks at completing the cycle, the last of which came with two outs and the bases loaded in the 11th. In a six-pitch at-bat against Diego Castillo, Semien struck out on a foul-tipped slider.

“Yeah, I was thinking, that would’ve been a great story for all you guys to write,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “To get the single, to get the cycle and win the game. It almost felt like, ‘Yes, [it’s] time.’”

The almost-cycle wasn’t lost on Semien, either, but he looked at his late-inning shortcomings through a team-first lens.

“You’re gonna run into three-at-bat stretches like I did where you’re not gonna get hits,” he said. “You can’t take anything for granted. I just wanted to win the game. They kept battling back, it was a back-and-forth game. The cycle doesn’t really matter if you’re not winning the game, so even if I would’ve got a single and we’d lost, that’s kind of bittersweet to me.”

In May, Semien's OPS has shot up by well more than 200 points (to .893), and he’s up to 11 home runs on the season (two behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who homered twice on Friday).

When asked about what changed when the calendar page flipped, Semien didn’t single out anything in particular. It’s not about a defining game or a lucky pair of shoes. He just feels like he’s growing stronger as the season goes along.

“If you asked any big league hitter, I’m sure they’d say the same thing,” he said. “For me, I feel strong, I feel healthy, I feel confident with the work I’m doing in the cage and [batting practice]. And then I’m putting good swings on pitches I should hit. My swing path is where I want it to be, and once you get into that mode, I think it’s just about pitch selection and hitting what you’re looking for.”

Honing his swing path is something Semien does by combining video analysis, discussion with coaches and feel -- but it’s mostly feel. And batting practice is where he gauges how well he’s hitting the ball to the opposite field, which goes a long way toward telling him if the swing path is correct. Right now, as Montoyo has noticed, Semien’s locked-in swing path has allowed him to hit the ball all over the yard.

“One of the main reasons he’s doing so well is because he’s hitting the ball everywhere,” Montoyo said. “For him to hit a home run to left field [nto the wind at TD Ballpark], that’s not easy, either. You’ve gotta hit ‘em hard. And he has.

“He’s also hitting the ball to right field, so that’s a great sign. He’s had a hell of a month, man.”