Blue Jays sweep Mariners, pull within 1.5 of wild card
Toronto completed a 3-game sweep of Seattle to move to 4-1 in its last 5 games, sitting 1.5 games back of the final AL wild card spot with an elimination number of 11.
Scherzer's 10 strikeouts close out the sweep
The Blue Jays closed out a 3-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners at Rogers Centre, following an 8-1 win on August 28 and a 4-3 win on August 29 with a 7-0 win on August 30. The only blemish in the last 5 games was a 13-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals on August 27, sandwiched between wins over Kansas City and Seattle. Max Scherzer took the finale, going 7.0 innings with 1 hit, no runs and 10 strikeouts.
Mariners8-1Mariners4-3Mariners7-0Alejandro Kirk went 2-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBI in the finale, part of an August in which the club noted he is hitting .341 with 5 home runs, 20 RBIs and a .946 OPS for the month. Kazuma Okamoto also went deep, driving in a run while going 1-for-3, and Spencer Miles worked a scoreless inning with 3 strikeouts in relief. The 3 straight wins over Seattle followed the loss to Kansas City and left Toronto 4-1 over its last 5 games.
2nd-best mark in the AL since July 27
Jon Morosi noted that the Blue Jays are 20-12 since July 27, a mark trailing only the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League over that stretch. He called it rare for a team that said it would both buy and sell at the deadline to actually pull it off with that level of success. The finish of the Seattle sweep, per TalkinBaseball_, kept Toronto 1.5 games back of the final AL wild card spot.
At 68-70, the Blue Jays sit 1.5 games behind both Texas and Baltimore in that chase, with an elimination number of 11 games. Toronto is 4-1 in its last 5, the kind of stretch that has turned a summer sell-off into a September push. Cleveland, tonight's opponent, sits right behind Toronto at 69-68 with an elimination number of 23, which is part of why the next games in that ballpark carry weight beyond the standings.
Upcoming
The Blue Jays are in Cleveland tonight, with Spencer Miles (5-2, 2.92 ERA) starting against Gavin Williams (12-7, 3.98 ERA) for the Guardians. Miles was sharp in his last outing against Kansas City, working 2.0 scoreless innings with 1 strikeout, while Williams was rocked by the Los Angeles Angels in his last start, allowing 5 earned runs in just 1.1 innings. Jameson Taillon, meanwhile, is scheduled for a side session Tuesday before Toronto decides whether he returns from the 15-day injured list or makes another rehab stop at Triple-A Buffalo, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca.
Cleveland is favored at home, and the total points to a low-scoring game — a read that fits a Guardians club sitting right behind Toronto in the standings and a Blue Jays staff still without Trey Yesavage and Jameson Taillon at the top of the rotation. Both probable starters were hit hard or worked short in their last turns, which only reinforces a script where the bullpens end up deciding it. If the number is right, this is a game settled in the middle innings, not by either lineup putting up a crooked number.