June has shown the Blue Jays at their best and worst, but with wins in seven of their last eight games, the waters have calmed.

This is what the Blue Jays needed to do against the Orioles, capped off with Sunday's 5-2 win at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, N.Y. Division battles against the Red Sox and Yankees earlier this month exposed the Blue Jays’ weaknesses, particularly in the bullpen, and while that hasn’t been fixed overnight, wins over weaker teams are necessary as the Blue Jays work to improve their roster down the stretch.

“I’m not surprised,” said manager Charlie Montoyo, who preached optimism throughout the middle of the month. “Like I’ve always said, if our bullpen regroups and does the job like they did today, we’re going to win games because we’re going to hit. We’re playing great defense and our starters are doing a great job. [The bullpen] is the piece that we were missing, but today is a great example that they did a great job. If they can bounce back, we’re going to compete and we’re going to be good.”

Now 40-36, the Blue Jays head into Monday’s off-day on a high note after another big day from the top of their lineup. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Teoscar Hernández and Marcus Semien all had multihit games, which is a story you’ve heard before this season, while starter Ross Stripling and the bullpen found a way to grind through the Orioles lineup and escape only with some bruises.

Stripling wasn’t as dominant as he’s shown during his recent turnaround, but he still managed to make it work, allowing two runs on six hits over five innings. The right-hander wasn’t missing as many bats as we’re used to seeing, but this was an afternoon where the Blue Jays pitchers had to battle through innings without their best stuff. Patrick Murphy, first out of the bullpen, had to leave with the bases loaded and two outs, only to be bailed out by Tim Mayza.

Here’s what to take away from this weekend’s series, which carried more weight than a June date with the Orioles has in years:

Who predicted this?
The hottest hitter in the Blue Jays lineup is … Reese McGuire?

McGuire singled twice and walked in Sunday’s win, continuing one of the best stretches of his young career at the plate. At the beginning of the season, McGuire was designated for assignment and seemed to be buried in the organization’s catching depth chart. With Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk on the IL, though, McGuire has capitalized on the opportunity and given this lineup an unexpected jolt from the bottom.

“It’s his approach at the plate. He’s doing a great job, and it starts in BP like I always say,” Montoyo said recently. “In BP he’s going the other way, and it’s paying off in the games. He did this a couple of years ago. His approach was good and he hit around .300, not many at-bats but hit hit around .300. He’s doing the same thing now. His approach is really good.”

Vlad is … still Vlad
This one’s less surprising, but Guerrero just continues to dominate any pitcher he sees. What you’ll see from Guerrero when he’s hot, too, is a variety of hits, not just pure power.

The biggest swing of the game came in the third, when Jorge López tried to sneak an inside changeup by Guerrero and he turned on it, pulling it over the third-base bag for a two-run double. In the fifth, Guerrero ripped a 114.4 mph single over the left-fielder’s head and off the warning track. The screaming line drive didn’t have much height, but with how hard Guerrero is hitting the baseball lately, anything in play is a threat.

Biggio getting back to his best traits
Since returning from a neck injury earlier in June, Cavan Biggio has been a different player. He went 2-for-3 with two RBIs on Sunday and has been piling up walks lately, which is his best weapon. Biggio isn’t about to leap back into the top half of the order, but he’s giving the bottom half more production than he was earlier in the year.

“He’s a grinder. He’s the first one to show up in the cage,” said hitting coach Guillermo Martinez. “We have focused on making some adjustments, but again, it all comes from him. He owns the adjustments and he wants to make them in his game.”

Given that Biggio is such a specific type of hitter, teams can game plan for him. At times, this has meant extreme shifts to the pull side against Biggio, but he’s doing his part to force defenders back up the middle.

“Since he came back, he’s doing a better job using the whole field,” Montoyo said. “That’s why he’s hitting better. That was a big two-run double that he hit to give us more cushion. It was huge, actually.”