TORONTO -- It’s time for the Blue Jays to make hay while the sun shines, and there’s not a cloud in the forecast.

This vacation from the AL East, where the Blue Jays are an abysmal 7-17, is their big shot at turning this season in a different direction heading into the second half. This club can’t seem to shake its inconsistencies for more than a few days at a time, including Friday’s dud against the A’s, but Saturday’s 7-3 win finally felt like these games are supposed to.

The Blue Jays should beat the A’s. That’s not the accomplishment here against baseball’s worst team. What matters is that the Blue Jays finally delivered a second act offensively, finding those valuable insurance runs that allowed their bullpen to coast through the late innings at a controlled speed instead of checking over their shoulders.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s two-run shot provided the padding in the sixth, a 437-foot rocket that might have gone through the wall in center if it hadn’t gone over it. It’s Guerrero’s second home run at Rogers Centre in as many days after a season-long drought that had stretched until Friday, another sign of Guerrero turning his season around at the snap of a finger like so many in this organization have promised.

“I’m feeling good, obviously,” Guerrero said through a club interpreter. “A lot better than two weeks ago, but that doesn’t matter. We still have to keep working, and hopefully I continue to get better.”

The main benefactors of Guerrero’s blast? Toronto’s relievers, who must feel like they’re in a high-leverage inning before getting out of bed this season. 

“Over the course of the season, it’s tough to navigate wanting to put those guys into those leverage spots,” manager John Schneider said. “They’re a little different, whether it’s [Erik] Swanson, [Tim] Mayza or [Jordan] Romano, where it’s high leverage all the time. That definitely adds up. They’re accustomed to it, but the best way to counteract that is to put runs on the board and get other guys in. It’s either that, or putting guys in where they may not be accustomed to.”

So many of the Blue Jays’ wins have borrowed from tomorrow. It looked like this would happen again, as the A’s brought the tying run to the plate in the fifth against José Berríos and scored in the sixth, but the late separation allowed Toronto to save something in the tank.

It wasn’t perfect, as Romano had to come in and throw five pitches to get the final out after Yimi García left with right knee discomfort, but this was much closer to the model the Blue Jays wish they could follow more often.

The long-term effect of wins like these is crucial. It allows Schneider and the Blue Jays to roll out the bullpen the way they want, not the way they have to on any given night. Those are often two different things. 

Take Saturday’s win. Mayza followed Berríos while the score was close, but once Guerrero homered, Swanson and Romano could breathe a little easier. Besides, Mayza already leads this team with 37 appearances while Swanson trails close behind with 36.

Instead, that allowed the Blue Jays to get Nate Pearson a clean inning of his own in lower leverage, which was a great way for the flamethrower to rebound from allowing five runs against the Marlins last week. 

“No doubt,” Schneider said. “Nate has been really good, and the last couple of outings have been a little tough, so I liked getting him in there and having a pretty efficient inning, then getting him out. It is nice when it’s not one runner getting on and you’re in trouble. Four runs is a bit different. It was a good job by the offense to add in the middle and a big home run by Vlad in the middle to allow those guys to be a little less stressed.”

Call it stress management, then. There’s something to be said about giving relievers the odd appearance where they can lean on their fastball and allow the ball to be put in play without fearing that one run could change the entire outlook of the game. 

Toronto’s depth has held up, particularly on the back end, but they’ve been testing just how far that can bend. The return of Chad Green from Tommy John surgery in the second half could provide a serious boost, and the Trade Deadline should bring more help, but the Blue Jays will be better off if their back-end cornerstones can kick their feet up sometimes.