Jays sweep to continue great April

The weather may be bad and the calendar may be just past the midway point of April but the Toronto Blue Jays are winning at a torrid pace compared to their notoriously slow starts in the first month of the season.

With a doubleheader sweep over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday at the Rogers Centre, the Jays are now 11-5, a win total they didn’t hit until May 7 and Game 31 last year.

Backup catcher Luke Maile was the hero in the nightcap, belting out a bases-loaded walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th, three-innings after a clutch double in the seventh to spark the Jays rally in a 5-4 win.

Earlier in a long day at the ballpark, the surging Jays slugged their way to an 11-3 win and have now guaranteed another series win. The three-gamer winds up Wednesday.

It was just the third doubleheader in the history of the Rogers Centre and the Jays have swept each of them.

By continuing to add to the win column, the Jays are determined to wash away the bad taste of last year’s miserable start.

While the team has been steady or better in several areas, one of the big keys to the early success has been the ability to get offence from up and down the batting order.

“To have a good year, everybody has to contribute,” manager John Gibbons said. “The good teams we’ve had around here, that’s the thing that’s happened. But for the most part we feel pretty good wherever we are in the lineup.”

That order added some more balance in Tuesday’s opener thanks in large part to struggling right fielder Randal Grichuk, who checked in with a double and a big three-run homer, part of a six-run sixth inning for the Jays.