Toronto Blue Jays

It was a small sample size, but the Jays got an encouraging sign when Jose Bautista’s bat finally showed signs of life.

In his last six games through Sunday, Bautista was 5-for-19 (.263) with three homers, eight RBI and five walks, raising his batting average to .182 and his on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS) to .642. Even more important, the Blue Jays won the last five games in that span.

When Bautista homered on Friday and Saturday, giving him five for the season, it was the first time he had gone deep on backto-back days since Sept. 24-25 against the Yankees.

Even though Bautista has struggled for much of the season, he entered Sunday leading all major league batters with 4.59 pitches per plate appearance.

“I’m just getting good pitches, and I’m not missing them,” he said of his recent success.

Said teammate Kevin Pillar, “He’s showing up at the right time. We, as his teammates, keep reminding him it’s not about what you’ve done, it’s about what you’re going to do for us today. ...

“He’s not trying to get his batting average back up. He’s not trying to get three hits in one at-bat.”

Pillar’s walk-off homer Sunday was his 48th hit of 2017, putting him among major league leaders. Pillar also was among leaders with 20 hits leading off an inning. Pillar was hitting .314 with an .866 OPS.