Blue Jays quick hits: Lauer deserves the bulk of the praise in come-from-behind win over Twins
It was one thing to sweep the lowly Athletics. It's something else entirely to win a series against the Philadelphia Phillies and then take the opener against the Minnesota Twins, rivals for a wild-card spot.
The
Blue Jays
' upward swing continued Friday night as
Addison Barger
and
George Springer
homered in a 6-4 victory at Target Field. The Twins made it interesting late by bringing the potential go-ahead run to the plate in the eighth inning, but left-hander Brendon Little escaped a jam before closer Jeff Hoffman entered in the ninth to record his 14th save.
The Jays have now won nine of their last 11 games and remain tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for the final American League wild-card spot.
Here's everything you need to know about how the Jays started a three-city, nine-game road trip on a winning note:
The Jays might have made a mistake in the spring by allowing veteran lefty
Ryan Yarbrough
to walk away for nothing in return, but Eric Lauer has been just as effective. Lauer returned on two days' rest to toss 2 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
After sparking Thursday's blowout win over the Phillies, the resurgent Bichette is among the
Lauer's performance helped right the ship after Paxton Schultz allowed three runs in two innings as the opener. Lauer has a 2.08 ERA across 26 innings. With results like that, the Jays should stop changing his role and commit to using the 30-year-old as a full-time starter.
Barger has been on a heater for the better part of the month and he is showing no signs of cooling off any time soon. After hitting four home runs in four games earlier this week, Barger was back at it in Minnesota.
After a disappointing start to his third big-league season, Schneider was sent to the minors to
With the Jays trailing 3-0 in the fourth, Barger unloaded on an 88-m.p.h. fastball from Bailey Ober and sent it over the wall in right for a two-run homer. The no-doubter left his bat at 105.5 m.p.h. and travelled an estimated 384 feet for Barger's seventh homer of the season. This was his third game as the No. 3 hitter behind
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
and, considering the recent results, it's a spot he deserves to hang onto for the foreseeable future.
After a poor start to the season, the Jays' offence turned things around in May and the bottom of the order was one of the reasons why. Ernie Clement, Nathan Lukes, Jonatan Clase, Tyler Heineman and Myles Straw have all had their moments in the sun, and that was the case against the Twins, too. Clement sparked a rally in the fifth with a single to left before No. 9 hitter Andrés Giménez hit a fly ball that was misplayed by right fielder Matt Wallner to put runners on second and third.
Leadoff man Bo Bichette
followed with a bloop two-run single to centre as the Jays took a 4-3 lead. Springer made it 5-3 in the fifth with a solo homer before
Alejandro Kirk
added an RBI single in the eighth.
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